The World Needs to Quit Coal. Why Is It So Hard?

HANOI, Vietnam — Coal, the fuel that powered the industrial age, has led the planet to the brink of catastrophic climate change.

An open pit mine in Burdwan, West Bengal, India.
Coal is the single largest source of electricity worldwide.

Scientists have repeatedly warned of its looming dangers, most recently on Friday, when a major scientific report issued by 13 United States government agencies warned that the damage from climate change could knock as much as 10 percent off the size of the American economy by century’s end if significant steps aren’t taken to rein in warming.

An October report from the United Nations’ scientific panel on global warming found that avoiding the worst devastation would require a radical transformation of the world economy in just a few years.

Central to that transformation: Getting out of coal, and fast.

Read the story from The New York Times by Somini Sengupta - “The World Needs to Quit Coal. Why Is It So Hard?”