Together, the technical reports aim to provide governments, utilities, and financiers with evidence-based solutions and lessons learned to identify opportunities to scale the pipeline of coal retirement projects as well as assess the role of flexible operation of specific coal plants in emerging markets.
The first report, Growing the Pipeline of Coal-to-Clean Projects, identifies around 150 gigawatts of operating coal capacity worldwide, roughly one third of the assessed fleet, as near-term opportunities for exploring early retirement and replacement with clean energy.
The report outlines pathways to grow today’s modest set of coal retirement projects towards a replicable global project pipeline, demonstrating that successful coal-to-clean transitions depend on combining transition-ready assets, innovative financial, technical, and contractual solutions and enabling policy and planning.
By scaling proven solutions where enabling conditions are favourable, improving coordination, innovating for harder-to-transition assets, and investing in the policy and institutional foundations in more challenging markets, it is possible to unlock credible, investable pathways for the global coal-to-clean transition.
The second report, From Flex to Phase-out, addresses the knowledge gap that currently exists around the role of coal flexibility in coal-to-clean transitions. The report concludes that, in some circumstances, operating coal assets in a flexible way could support a more rapid integration of renewables in the near term as alternative sources of flexibility are built out, so long as robust guardrails are in place to manage the risk of unduly prolonging coal use. The paper also concludes that flexibility is rarely a fleet wide approach and should be seen in the context of a larger coal transition strategy.
“Indonesia is actively exploring how to be a leader in the global energy transition, given the opportunity to create a cleaner, more competitive economy for future generations” said Eleonoire Caroit, Minister in charge of International Partnerships, France, and CTC Co-Chair. “With credible plans for transitioning our energy system and international support to deliver on those plans, we can achieve our growth targets and reduce our emissions at the same time. The work that CTC undertakes helps provide important evidence and technical insights to inform our own and other countries’ efforts to navigate coal transitions. Phasing out coal is not only one of the most urgent challenges to keep the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement within reach – it is also a key opportunity to foster sustainable growth while ensuring energy security and sovereignty. These reports show that practical solutions are emerging, which now need to be scaled up. The Coal Transition Commission is willing to work with governments and financial institutions to move this agenda forward, in line with the collective ambition to make COP30 an implementation COP”
The reports analyse early success stories from the coal to clean transition projects, and identify trends and challenges from those, building critical evidence to advance the transition. In the Philippines, ACEN Corporation refinanced its SLTEC coal plant to enable its accelerated retirement up to 25 years early. In Vietnam, pilots at the Vinh Tan 4 plant have shown that flexible coal operation can technically support renewables integration.
These two reports show that with the right policies and financial solutions, countries can unlock further progress. Long-term power sector and coal commitments, underpinned by power and just transition plans, and strategies to scale renewable energy integration are key to enabling the coal transition.
Multilateral development banks, development finance institutions, and private investors have expressed growing interest in supporting just coal-to-clean transitions and continuing to scale and pilot innovative financing solutions can further accelerate the transition.
“Singapore welcomes the CTC reports on potential measures to advance the work on coal phaseout” added Ravi Menon, Ambassador for Climate Action, Singapore. “This work is of paramount importance for the global transition towards net-zero: one out of every six tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions comes from coal plants in Asia. With Asia’s demand for energy continuing to rise, coal phaseout is not viable without innovative means of financing. We are working to fund coal phaseout through carbon markets and blended finance, and urge sovereigns, private, and philanthropic institutions to join us in this effort.”
Jon Creyts, CEO, RMI, said that their analysis shows that there are credible opportunities to retire and replace coal assets with clean energy with the right support and financing and that the challenge now is to turn these opportunities into real-world projects that deliver prosperity, security, and resilience for local communities.
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