Vietnam spurns coal as South-East Asia aims to kick dirty habit

Coal power has grown from about 18% of Vietnam’s total to more than 50% in the past decade. - AP

HANOI (Bloomberg): Vietnam made a surprise commitment at the COP26 climate summit to stop building new coal power plants, as South-East Asian nations once seen as growth markets for the fuel start to turn their backs on it.

Vietnam was a full signatory to a UK-backed pledge at the conference calling for countries to stop permitting and building new coal power plants, and to fully transition away from the fuel by the 2030s for major economies and by the following decade for developing countries.