UN climate chief Christiana Figueres says coal industry must transform
Industry warned it must 'rapidly' transform itself, and diversify into renewable energy, to avoid catastrophic climate change
Most of the world's coal reserves should be left in the ground to avoid catastrophic global warming, the United Nations' climate chief has told the US$3 trillion global industry.
In a speech to industry executives, Christiana Figueres challenged the industry to urgently transform itself, diversify into renewable energy and "radically change ... rapidly and dramatically for everyone's sake".
"By now it should be abundantly clear that further capital expenditures on coal can go ahead only if they are compatible with the 2 degrees Celsius limit," she said at the international coal and climate summit in Warsaw, being held at the same time as UN climate talks.
The goal of the UN talks is to keep mean temperature rises this century below 2 degrees.
Gas is the way to ensure we burn less coal over the next two decades
Figueres said the industry had "the opportunity to be part of the worldwide climate solution" by switching off old coal power plants, capturing and storing carbon from new plants and leaving most of the world's coal reserves in the ground. She also said coal power could help poorer countries' economic development and poverty reduction, but that the industry "must change".
