The President of France has pushed forward the state’s plan to shut down all of its coal-run power plants within three years. President Emmanuel Macron plans to make France a coal-free country by 2021. He said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, “We’ve also decided to make France a model in the fight against climate change.” The plan was introduced by the former president Francois Hollande. He intended to end the power production from coal plants by 2023.
Only one percent of France’s power is generated by coal. Therefore, the president wants to move this date up basically to create a new symbol of the leadership position that France in fighting the climate change. Macron mentioned that the renewed pledge would be a “huge advantage in terms of attractiveness and competitiveness.” Coal plants are an environmental burden and also cost a lot to the country’s environment. Taking a step towards the clean energy will help improve the nation’s financial status as well.
Many nations are taking their investments out of the coal industry in order to create a cleaner environment. China is the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, which cancelled the building of 104 new coal plants. An international alliance of world governments is planning to ban the eradication of coal by 2030. The European Union is also speeding up its plans to remove coal from their continent’s power generation plants.
The drop in the price of the renewable energy will make coal less attractive to nations. The nations who are wealthy and can subsidize the costs associated with renewable energy are already working to make them more cost-effective. With the improvement in technology and efficiency, the renewable energy will be more affordable as compared to the fossil fuels.
France is showing a path to all the countries but it will take a lot more than a single country to change the climate. It will take a lot of efforts to make sure that the efforts that were already made are not going to waste.
