(Bloomberg) -- Indonesia signed up to a pledge aimed at ending coal use at COP26. But a closer look at the terms shows it will be able to continue building coal plants at home.
Signatories of the U.K. led Global Coal to Clean Power Transition Statement had the option to sign four different clauses. The first two committed to scaling up clean energy and the second two were designed to power down coal.
Indonesia didn't back the clause calling for an end to building and financing new unabated coal, according to a statement from COP organizers. Indonesia is the world's biggest coal exporter.
It will “consider accelerating coal phase out into the 2040s,” if there's additional international financing to do so, the document shows.
Indonesia is set to get a share of nearly $2.5 billion from the Climate Investment Funds Accelerating Coal Transition (ACT) investment program, and also funds from the Asian Development Bank.
One U.K. official speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters the statement was deliberately flexible from the outset to give as much room as possible to signatories.
Poland also signed the pledge. But the Climate Ministry in Warsaw said it wouldn't phase out coal until the 2040s, the same timescale it was already planning.
(Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News, is funding efforts to close a quarter of the world's remaining coal plants and cancel all new proposed projects globally by 2025.)
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