STRENGTHENING NATIONAL COAL TRANSITIONS TO RAISE CLIMATE AMBITION

The briefing identifies critical policy gaps in national coal transitions, emphasizing that a 'just transition' requires more than carbon pricing. It highlights the need to protect workers, build local economic resilience, avoid stranded assets, coordinate international trade flows, and secure financing. The document frames these managed transitions as a credible way for countries to increase their climate ambition within the UNFCCC framework.

• Steam coal currently accounts for approximately 28% of global primary energy consumption and 44% of annual CO2 emissions, with nearly 2,000 GW of power capacity across 6,683 operational coal-fired power stations.
• Current policy settings leave the world off-track for a <2°C-compatible scenario; if existing and planned coal plants operate for a 40-year lifetime without carbon capture and storage (CCS), the 1.5°C target could be exceeded and the 2°C target put in serious doubt.
• A successful coal transition requires an integrated strategy that simultaneously aligns economic and regulatory incentives for phasing down unabated coal and implements policies to mitigate impacts on workers and local communities.
• Coal workers are often sympathetic to the need for transition but require credible guarantees and a clear path to finding decent, equivalently well-paid alternative employment rather than just retraining.
• Poorly managed transitions risk long-term intergenerational disadvantage in coal-producing regions due to drops in local economic demand; success depends on industrial diversification strategies led by local stakeholders.
• To minimize political opposition and financial risk, countries must prevent new investments in coal assets likely to be stranded—particularly those involving state subsidies—and manage the phase-out of high-carbon assets alongside the phase-in of decarbonized sources.
• Because coal is an internationally traded commodity, unilateral national policy changes create significant market spillovers, necessitating transparent international coordination to ensure consistency between national decarbonization plans and global market trajectories.
• Addressing the underlying barriers to coal transition is a more comprehensive and credible way for countries to signal increased climate ambition in their NDCs than focusing exclusively on emissions targets.

APA

Sartor, O. (2017). STRENGTHENING NATIONAL COAL TRANSITIONS TO RAISE CLIMATE AMBITION. Climate Strategies. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Strengthening-Ntl-CT_Sartor_2017_FINAL.pdf

Chicago

Sartor, Oliver. STRENGTHENING NATIONAL COAL TRANSITIONS TO RAISE CLIMATE AMBITION. Climate Strategies, 2017. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Strengthening-Ntl-CT_Sartor_2017_FINAL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Sartor |first1=Oliver |title=STRENGTHENING NATIONAL COAL TRANSITIONS TO RAISE CLIMATE AMBITION |publisher=Climate Strategies |date=November 2017 |url=https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Strengthening-Ntl-CT_Sartor_2017_FINAL.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sartor2017strengthening, author = {Sartor, Oliver}, title = {{STRENGTHENING NATIONAL COAL TRANSITIONS TO RAISE CLIMATE AMBITION}}, institution = {Climate Strategies}, year = {2017}, month = nov, url = {https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Strengthening-Ntl-CT_Sartor_2017_FINAL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }