Climate crisis: Sweden closes last coal-fired power station two years ahead of schedule

Sweden has closed the country’s last coal-fired power station two years ahead of schedule.

The plant at Värtaverket, in Hjorthagen in eastern Stockholm, pictured in 2008.

It becomes the third European country to exit coal completely after Belgium closed its last coal power station in 2016, and Austria ended its final coal-fired energy operations earlier this month.

The plant at Värtaverket, in Hjorthagen in eastern Stockholm is owned by Stockholm Exergi, a company part owned by the City of Stockholm and which described the closure as “a milestone” for clean energy in Sweden.

The move will cut the CO2 emissions of the company by half, it said.

The Swedish capital is on track for its district heating to be produced entirely by renewable or recycled energy by 2030. District heating, which is used in many European cities, tends to provide higher efficiencies and less pollution than localised boilers in each dwelling. 

Read the story from the Independent by Harry Cockburn - “Climate crisis: Sweden closes last coal-fired power station two years ahead of schedule.”

United Nations Says 80 Countries May Ramp Up Climate Pledges

UNITED NATIONS — About 80 countries want to increase their climate pledges ahead of schedule under the Paris climate accord, the United Nations said Tuesday, signaling that some of them would do so at a summit of world leaders in September.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres
 has made climate change a signature issue.

Luis Alfonso de Alba, a Mexican diplomat who is currently the United Nations Secretary General’s envoy on climate change, declined to say which countries were expected to announce higher climate ambitions, nor whether they would be enough to make a difference to the fate of the world.

Even if every country were to meet the pledges already made under the 2015 Paris agreement — and they are nowhere on track to do so — it would be insufficient to avert the worst effects of climate change. An “exponential increase in ambition,” Mr. de Alba said, is needed.

Read the story from The New York Times by Somini Sengupta - “United Nations Says 80 Countries May Ramp Up Climate Pledges.”

Australia can meet Paris targets if government doesn't hinder progress, report claims

New research finds Australia is installing renewable energy faster than any other country, a trend that will allow Australia to meet its economy-wide Paris targets five years ahead of schedule if politics doesn’t derail the trend, according to new research from the Australian National University.

Emissions have been falling in the electricity sector
because of the closure of ageing coal plants and
the rapid uptake of renewables.

While emissions have been rising across the economy since the Abbott government repealed the carbon price after winning government in 2013, they have been falling in the electricity sector because of the closure of ageing coal plants and the rapid uptake of renewables.

The lead researcher, ANU professor Andrew Blakers, says Australia is currently installing renewable power four or five times per capita faster than the European Union, Japan, China and the United States. That finding is based on preliminary data available for installations globally last year.

Read the story from The Guardian by Katharine Murphy - “Australia can meet Paris targets if government doesn't hinder progress, report claims.”