France to close all coal-fired power plants by 2021

• 6 years ago (2018-01-26)
• David Flin

Coal 274 Europe 1061

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President Emmanuel Macron of France said in a speech at Davos that France will shut down all its coal-fired power plants by 2021. He said that he wanted to: “make France a model in the fight against climate change,” as part of his plans to reform the French economy. He said: “That is a huge advantage in terms of attractiveness and competitiveness. Talent will come where it is good to live. We can create a lot of jobs with such a strategy.”

Macron told the Davos forum: “On climate change, we’re losing the battle,” adding that the world needed concrete action and results by 2020. He also called for the EU, which already opened the world’s first carbon trading market, to “go a little bit further and create a floor price for CO2.”

Macron’s timeline is more ambitious than that of his predecessor. Francois Hollande had said in 2016 that all coal-fired power plants in France would close by 2023.

The UK and Italy have also set timelines to phase out coal-fired power generation. The UK Government confirmed in October 2017 that it would proceed with action to regulate the closure of unabated coal-fired power generation units in Great Britain by 2025.

Italy’s Government unveiled a new national energy strategy in November 2017. This aims to phase out coal in electricity generation by 2025, and significantly boost the share of renewables in total energy and electricity consumption.