Building new coal-fired power plants would be "detrimental" to efforts to curb carbon emissions that currently place the world on a path to warm 2.9-3.4 degrees this century, a United Nations scientist says.
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Jacqueline McGlade, chief scientist for the UN Environment Program, said new coal plants would be "entirely contradictory" to the need to close a wide gap between national promises made at last year's Paris climate summit and the carbon emissions trajectory.
"Anything that leads to an increase in greenhouse gases we see as detrimental," Professor McGlade said. "From an environmental perspective it's just a no go [for new coal]."
The comments come as the Paris climate agreement – signed by almost 200 nations pledging to keep global warming to less than 2 degrees – comes into force on Friday.
They also come a day after the owners of Hazelwood, Australia's dirtiest coal-fired power plant, said it would close next March. The Victoria-based plant emits about 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, or about 3 per cent of Australia's total.
According to the UNEP, national commitments indicate annual emissions by 2030 will be 54-56 gigatonnes of CO2-equivalent, or about 12-14 GT more than needed to keep below the 2-degree warming limit.
The so-called emissions gap is even wider – at 15-17 GT a year – if the lower limit agreed in the Paris accord of 1.5 degrees is to be achieved.
Nations will be pressed to lift their ambitions at the follow-up climate meeting to Paris, which starts on Monday in Marrakesh, Morocco.
"If we don't start taking additional action now, beginning with the upcoming climate meeting in Marrakesh, we will grieve over the avoidable human tragedy," said Erik Solheim, head of UNEP. "The growing numbers of climate refugees hit by hunger, poverty, illness and conflict will be a constant reminder of our failure to deliver."
The Turnbull government is yet to ratify the Paris agreement but may do so before the Marrakesh meeting ends on November 18.
"Domestic action [in Australia] hasn't kept pace with unprecedented global momentum in clean energy and emissions reduction," John Connor, chief executive of The Climate Institute, said.
Australia's 2030 target of cutting 2005-level emissions by 26-28 per cent falls short of the Paris objective and is also not backed up by policies needed to reach that target, he said: "These weaknesses leave Australia exposed."
According to the UNEP, Australia's per capita emissions will fall significantly by 2030 on current goals, but will still leave the country the third-worst polluter among the G20 nations behind only Russia and Saudi Arabia. (See chart below.)
The UNEP report estimates that, based on commitments made in Paris last December, the world will deplete its carbon budget by 2030 if it is to have a two-thirds chance of keeping warming to below 2 degrees of pre-industrial era levels.
