President of the upcoming United Nations climate talks in the United Kingdom -- Alok Sharma

United Nations, July 23 (RHC)-- The president of the upcoming United Nations climate talks in the United Kingdom has urged nations to ban the burning of coal as part of an effort to reduce carbon emissions. 

Alok Sharma spoke to the journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now.  Sharma said : “I’ve been very clear that I want COP 26 to be the COP where we consign coal power to history.  And actually, we are seeing some movements.  I mean, if I talk about the U.K.’s own journey when it comes to coal power, you know, back in 2012, less than 10 years ago, 40% of our electricity was coming from coal; we are now at less than 2%. We brought forward the date to 2024 by which we will be coal-free in our electricity mix.” 

The U.K. will host the next U.N. climate conference in November in Glasgow, Scotland.