France has announced plans to shut all coal-fired plants in the country by 2021, two-years earlier than previously intended.
The announcement was made by the French President Emmanuel Macron at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The decision pushes ahead the timeline set by the Macron’s predecessor Francois Hollande to close all coal-burning power plants by 2023.
Macron was quoted by Independent as saying: “We've also decided to make France a model in the fight against climate change.”
Currently, France generates a significant amount of its electricity from nuclear power plants, while coal-fired power plants account for only 1% of the country’s energy production.
In December last year, France's parliament had approved a law prohibiting all oil and gas exploration and production within the country and its overseas territories by 2040.
Under the new law, the country will not issue any new licenses or renew the existing drilling permits.
At present, France produces 815,000 tonnes of oil annually, with a major part of its production is from its South American territory of French Guiana.
In November 2016, the UK had also committed to phase out coal-fired power plants by 2025, as part of its plans to switch to generating energy from renewable sources.
Earlier this month, the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said that it would set an emission intensity limit of 450g of CO2 for each kilowatt hour of power generated to make sure polluting plants are shut down.
Similarly, the Canadian government had announced plans to phase out its coal-fired power plants by 2030.
Image: The decision pushes ahead the timeline set by the Macron’s predecessor Francois Hollande. Photo: courtesy of John Kasawa/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net.