Why 2017 was a good year for climate

On the face of it, there was plenty of bad news for the climate in 2017. Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the 2015 Paris agreement and promised to reverse the decline of the coal industry. The Turnbull government rejected proposals for an efficient transition to a low-carbon energy sector, instead announcing a half-baked National Energy Guarantee designed as a lifeline for coal-fired power. Globally, CO2 emissions appeared to rise by around 2 percent, after remaining stable for three years in a row.

Last nail? Protesters outside the Melbourne offices of the Downer
 Group in June this year. The company was contracted to build the
 Carmichael coal project in the Galilee basin of Queensland, but the
 deal was rescinded in December.

But a closer look reveals a lot more good news than bad, with two major developments standing out. The first is an emerging global consensus, encompassing national governments, financial institutions and civil society, that the era of coal-fired electricity generation must end, and soon.

Typifying this trend is the new Powering Past Coal Alliance, made up of national and provincial governments pledged to phase out coal-fired electricity generation by 2030. Launched with twenty members in November 2017, the Alliance expanded rapidly to include major businesses, and now has nearly sixty members. Its government members include Britain, Canada, New Zealand and a number of other developed countries, middle-income countries such as Mexico and Costa Rica, and developing countries such as Angola and Ethiopia. Not surprisingly, Pacific Island nations, endangered by sea-level rise, are well represented.

Read the story by John Quiggan on Inside Story - “Why 2017 was a good year for climate.”