NZAOA fails litmus test for climate credibility

The Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA) is criticized for a loophole in its thermal coal position paper that permits the completion of plants under active construction, potentially enabling 189.8 GW of new capacity. This contradicts the alliance's goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 and the IPCC's warnings regarding the 1.5°C warming limit. The document highlights the Turow lignite expansion in Poland as an example of a problematic project under construction and warns of significant stranded asset risks, noting that up to 72% of global thermal coal capacity could be loss-making by 2040.

• The Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance's thermal coal position paper contains a contradiction: while it states that no further thermal coal plants should be financed or built, it explicitly allows plants currently under active construction to continue.
• Based on the Global Coal Plant Tracker, the Alliance's policy effectively accepts the construction of 195 new coal plants, totaling 189.8 GW of power capacity.
• The Turow lignite expansion project by PGE in Poland is cited as a project 'under construction' that threatens groundwater reserves and has led the Czech Republic to file a formal complaint with the EU Commission.
• Financial data from Carbon Tracker indicates that 42% of the global thermal coal operating fleet was unprofitable in 2018, with projections that 72% will be unprofitable by 2040, potentially leading to over USD 267 billion in negative stranded assets under a 2°C scenario.

APA

admin (2020). NZAOA fails litmus test for climate credibility. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2020/11/09/nzaoa_fails_litmus_test_climate_credibility/

Chicago

admin. NZAOA fails litmus test for climate credibility. Reclaim Finance, 2020. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2020/11/09/nzaoa_fails_litmus_test_climate_credibility/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=admin |title=NZAOA fails litmus test for climate credibility |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=9 November 2020 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2020/11/09/nzaoa_fails_litmus_test_climate_credibility/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{admin2020nzaoa, author = {admin}, title = {{NZAOA fails litmus test for climate credibility}}, publisher = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2020}, month = nov, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2020/11/09/nzaoa_fails_litmus_test_climate_credibility/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }