More than 40 countries pledged to phase out construction of new coal fired power plants domestically and internationally at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, but some of the world’s largest emitters—China, India, Japan and the U.S.—did not sign the pledge, potentially weakening the global effort to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
While countries that signed on to the pledge include major CO2 emitters such as Poland, Vietnam and Chile, the separate draft proposal for the overall climate agreement released Nov. 12 by COP President Alok Sharma makes some concessions to countries that objected to stronger language and calls for the phase-out of “unabated coal power and of inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels.”