Coal Deals Must Put the Fine Print in Bold
Cleaning up Indonesia’s power supply is urgent, and so is the need for transparency.
The dirtiest fuel.
Photographer: Dadang Tri/Bloomberg
Hello and welcome to Elements, our daily energy and commodities newsletter. Today, Bloomberg Opinion’s Clara Ferreira Marques argues that a US-backed deal to wean Indonesia off coal must dive into the details since it may be a template for other developing nations. If you’re in the market for an electric vehicle but have questions about charging it, click here. To see real-time methane emissions, read this. If you haven’t yet signed up to get Elements directly into your inbox, you can do that here.
Helping Indonesia shift away from coal isn’t just good news for carbon emissions, it’s imperative. Use of the dirtiest fossil fuel has to fall precipitously to avoid climate disaster, and developing Asia has been adding coal capacity, not subtracting. So it’s worth cheering a mooted pact worth as much as $20 billion, backed by the United States, Japan and others, and set to be announced at next week’s Group of 20 gathering in Bali.