Global Energy Monitor - Coal Phaseout Tool
Global Energy Monitor’s Global coal phaseout website page was last updated April 2024 (features January 2024 Global Coal Plant Tracker data). This wiki provides additional information about the page’s tools.
To learn more about the Global Coal Plant Tracker (GCPT) or to contact the tracker's project manager, visit the main GCPT landing page.
Country level commitments and targets
The country level coal phaseout commitments and country level net-zero/carbon neutrality targets used in GEM’s tool are available in Global Energy Monitor’s wiki: Planning the end of coal-fired power: Phaseout targets and NDCs.
Note: Wiki may reflect more recent updates than tool depending on sync timing.
Underlying data
Google sheet summaries are available for the following visualizations:
The full GCPT is available for download here. Additional data is available upon request.
Paris Agreement alignment: 2030/2040 coal exits
GEM’s tool assumes that commitments to retire before 2030 are in line with the Paris Agreement for member countries within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and before 2040 for all other countries (non-OECD countries). GEM has categorized global information using the July 2023 GCPT release for illustrative purposes, and recommends further coal unit level and country level review to derive phaseout and Paris Agreement alignment conclusions.
The mitigation scenarios compiled in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) sixth assessment report (AR6) find that global coal, oil, and gas supply must decline by an average of 95%, 62%, and 42%, respectively, from 2020 to 2050 in order to limit long-term warming to 1.5C with no or limited “overshoot.”
The 2030/2040 OECD and non-OECD coal exit dates are a cornerstone of the UN Secretary’s climate agenda, as identified in the July 2023 Climate Action Acceleration Agenda.
Similar coal exit dates are also a cornerstone of the declaration of the Powering Past Coal Alliance, which finds that to meet the Paris Agreement, coal phase-out is needed no later than by 2030 in the OECD and EU, and no later than by 2040 in the rest of the world. A key International Energy Agency Net Zero milestone is also the phase‐out of unabated coal in “advanced economies” by 2030 (page 20), defined as OECD countries AND Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Malta, and Romania.
Bulgaria, Croatia, and Romania are three GCPT countries in the EU27 but not in the OECD.
In September 2023, Climate Action Tracker, Climate Analytics, and NewClimate Institute analyzed exit dates in a report titled Clean electricity within a generation: Paris-aligned benchmarks for the power sector.
Climate Analytics’ website provides more information on coal phase out pathways, highlighting their September 2019 report Global and regional coal phase out requirements of the Paris Agreement: Insights from the IPCC Special Report on 1.5°C, an update of their 2016 analysis Implications of the Paris Agreement for coal use in the power sector.
A December 2023 Carbon Brief Q&A explained the term “unabated fossil fuels” and the science behind fossil-fuel phaseout.
Additional resources available here and upon request:
- Ember, The science is clear, coal needs to go (April 7, 2022)
- Carbon Brief, The IPCC’s sixth assessment on how to tackle climate change (April 5, 2022)
- Carbon Brief, How quickly does the world need to ‘phase down’ all fossil fuels? (February 16, 2023)
- Carbon Brief, Guest post: Why all fossil fuels must decline rapidly to stay below 1.5C (October 26, 2023)
Annual capacity data limitations
“How has coal power capacity changed since 2000?”: This tool and other related analyses only reflect operating and mothballed capacity based on the GCPT’s known “Start year” and “Retired year” entries. These years are not known for all units in the GCPT.
GEM’s historical status changes data (2014-2023) available upon request includes all GCPT units regardless of whether they have a known “Start year” and/or “Retired year” entry. Based on the status changes data, the operating and mothballed capacity by the end of 2015 differed in the following countries by the following capacities: Brazil (+72 MW), China (+9,954 MW), India (+447 MW), Indonesia (+175 MW), Kazakhstan (+80 MW), Nigeria (+285 MW), Russia (+949 MW), Slovakia (+208 MW), Spain (+37 MW), Taiwan (+196 MW).
By H2 2023, operating and mothballed capacity differed in the following countries by the following capacities: Brazil (+72 MW), China (+7,645 MW), Finland (-65 MW), Germany (-118 MW), India (+247 MW), Indonesia (+175 MW), Kazakhstan (+80 MW), Nigeria (+285 MW), Poland (-30 MW), Russia (+949 MW), Slovakia (+208 MW), Spain (+37 MW), Taiwan (+196 MW), Ukraine (-600 MW).
Using the status changes data as opposed to the “Start year” and “Retired year” information results in 17 countries keeping coal capacity the same since 2015 instead of 16 countries (+Nigeria), for a total of 82 countries with coal power in 2015 instead of 81.
For reference, the Bloomberg Coal Countdown’s “Overview” tab for each country provides similar capacity data from 2000-2023, but leverages a combination of the “Start year” and “Retired year” data as well as status changes data, and excludes mothballed capacity. Github available here.
