Three sources involved with the discussions told Reuters in India and Europe that France, supported by the United States, intends to seek a halt to private funding for coal-based power facilities during the U.N. climate conference later this month.

India and China are hostile to any attempt to impede the development of coal-fired power plants in order to support their energy-hungry economies, so the plan, which was presented to India earlier this month, will widen differences at the COP28 meeting in Dubai, which takes place from November 30 to December 12.

The “New Coal Exclusion Policy” is a strategy for private financial institutions and insurance firms that was presented to the Indian government by Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, France’s state minister for development, according to two Indian officials.

It has not yet been made public that private finance for coal-fired power facilities is to be discontinued.

In response to emails from Reuters, a representative for Zacharopoulou stated that the topic of financial investments in coal has been covered in a number of different multilateral forums in recent years, but he did not directly address the questions.

Reuters reached out to the Indian ministries of environment, power and renewable energy, coal, external affairs, and information, as well as the OECD and the French embassy in New Delhi, but none of them responded.

According to a European source with knowledge of the strategy, the objective was to cut off private money for coal power. French President Emmanuel Macron made this his main priority during COP28, viewing it as a critical chance to expedite efforts to slow down global warming.

According to the two Indian officials, the plan calls for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to establish coal-exit guidelines for private finance companies whose funding may be monitored by regulators, rating agencies, and non-governmental groups.

Several countries, including the United States, the European Union, and Canada, have been looking for a strategy to accelerate the phase-out of coal, which they have identified as the “number one threat” to climate goals.

They express worry that, as per the strategy shared by France and India, major expansions to coal capacity in developing countries are still being supported by private international financing.

The officials stated that 490 gigawatts of new coal capacity, or about one-fifth of the current world capacity, was planned or under development, primarily in China and India.

“We are pushing to set an expectation globally that countries need to join us in the fastest possible power sector transition, including all that clean power deployment,” Duke said.

“And countries need to stop digging a deeper hole by building new unabated coal power plants, because unfortunately, there’s still some 500 gigawatts of new coal-fired power plants in the pipeline globally, and the IPCC and the International Energy Agency have both been quite clear that that needed to stop already.”

According to one of the Indian officials, member nations disagree on emissions reduction technologies that have not yet advanced to a point where they can be used on a commercial basis in poor nations.

India now produces about 73% of the electricity it uses, even though non-fossil energy already accounts for 44% of the nation’s installed power producing capacity.

Given that coal will remain its primary energy source for several more decades, the nation plans to oppose efforts to set a date for the phase-out or phase-down of fossil fuels at COP28. Instead, it may urge members to concentrate on lowering emissions from alternative sources. Additionally, by 2050, it might force industrialised countries to become carbon negative rather than carbon neutral.

(Adapted from Reuters.com)

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