WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The top U.N. climate diplomat on Monday
told the coal industry it should leave most of the world's remaining
coal reserves in the ground and start investing in renewable energy sources.
Speaking at a coal summit on the sidelines of a U.N. climate conference
in Warsaw, Christiana Figueres said the coal industry needs to change
radically to help reduce the carbon emissions that scientists say are
warming the planet.
"The world is rising to meet the climate challenge as risks of
inaction mount, and it is in your best interest to make coal part of
the solution," Figueres said.
The coal event was seen as a provocation by climate activists, who used
a crane to reach the ministry's roof, where they unfurled banners criticizing
Poland's — and the world's — reliance on coal and other fossil
fuels. Police used another crane to take them down, as panelists at the
coal summit said that the people in the room, not the people on the roof,
have the possibility to change the coal industry.
Coal industry officials at the event didn't directly address her remarks
but said the world cannot do without coal because in many countries it's
the only available energy source.
"A major aim of the summit has been to encourage open and constructive
dialogue on the climate challenge — we're not going to meet our
climate objectives if we are not all part of the solution," the
World Coal Association, which organized the event, said in a statement.
Climate activists with protest banners wave polish flags on the rooftop of the Economy Ministry in Warsaw, Poland Monday, Nov. 18, 2013. They went up the rooftop to protest a coal conference opening to coincide with U.N. talks on preventing global warming, that is also the result of greenhouse gases coming from burning coal. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Polish Economy Minister Janusz Piechocinski, whose country generates
about 90 percent of its electricity from coal, said: "You cannot
have a low-emissions energy transformation without talking about coal."
Coal accounts for less than 30 percent of the world's energy supply
but more than 40 percent of energy emissions, according to the International
Energy Agency.
Figueres, who was criticized by some climate activists for attending
the conference, noted coal's role in economic development since the
industrial revolution but said it's come at "an unacceptably high
cost to human and environmental health."
She said aging, high-polluting coal plants must be closed and new
plants should implement technologies that allow for emissions to be
trapped before they are released into the atmosphere. Such technologies
are expensive and currently not widely used.
To bring down CO2 emissions to levels that would avoid dangerous levels
of warming, most of the existing coal reserves must be left in the
ground, Figueres said.
Police officers on the top of a fire ladder try to bring down climate activists who have gotten on the rootop of the Economy Ministry in Warsaw, Poland Monday, Nov. 18, 2013. Activists went up to the ministry rooftop to protest a coal conference opening to coincide with U.N. talks on preventing global warming, that is also the result of greenhouse gases coming from burning coal. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
"Some major oil, gas and energy technology companies are already investing
in renewables, and I urge those of you who have not yet started to join them," Figueres
said.
Back at the U.N. conference later Monday, she told reporters she didn't
expect any major shift in the industry's deployment of capital anytime
soon.
"They really need to do a major, major rethink," Figueres
said. "So I don't expect them to stand up immediately and go,
'We are ready for the challenge right now,' but I do expect them to
take the message very seriously."
That message was echoed by U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern.
"The world runs significantly on fossil fuels right now and that's
not going to change overnight," he said. "But at the same
time if we're going to get a grip on climate change ... the balance
of energy in countries all over the world is going to have to tilt
much more toward non-fossil sources."
Coal emissions have declined in the U.S. as some power plants have
switched to lower-priced natural gas. But they are growing fast in
China and India to meet the energy needs of their fast-growing economies.
Coal industry officials say significant emissions reductions can be
achieved by improving the efficiency of coal-fired plants. But in the
long term analysts say expensive carbon-capture technologies need to
be implemented to make the deep cuts required to slow climate change.