Britain’s government: 'End of coal is in sight'

Britain's government has claimed that the "end of coal is in sight" after 18 countries including Poland, Vietnam and Chile committed for the first time to phase out and not build or invest in new coal power.

The statement, issued late on Nov. 3 during the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, said more than 40 nations are committing to end all investment in new coal power generation domestically and internationally, as well as rapidly scale up clean power generation. Participating nations also commit to phasing out coal power in the 2030s for major economies, and the 2040s for smaller economies.

Separately, the statement also said that Chile and Singapore have joined a U.K.-led alliance on phasing out coal that includes over 150 countries and businesses such as HSBC and NatWest bank.

U.K. business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said it was a "milestone moment in our global efforts to tackle climate change."

But Ed Miliband, the opposition Labour Party's business spokesman, said there were "glaring gaps" such as a lack of commitment from China and other large emitters to stop increasing coal at home. There was also nothing on the phasing out of oil and gas, he said.

Britain has called for the world's financial industry to channel its vast funds toward greener investments to ensure that efforts to curb global warming succeed.

Treasury chief Rishi Sunak said that the U.K. government is providing new funds to help poor countries cope with climate change. But he said that "public investment alone isn't enough."

Sunak called for a "historic wall of capital for the net zero transition around the world."

But poor countries are angry that after Britain and other wealthy countries failed to meet their commitment to provide $100...