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By: Dohyeon Kim  With the ever-increasing threat of climate change, the future of today’s youth is in crisis. It is no longer premature to imagine that climate apocalypse is coming. In fact, we are already experiencing the serious impacts of climate change. In 2018, South Korea was hit by a scorching heatwave. The record-breaking temperatures left at least 42 people dead and more than 3,400 people treated for heat-related illnesses. In 2019, the country was affected by 7 typhoons, which is the highest number in history. This year, we are witnessing deadly floods and landslides in many regions across the country. This is not just happening in Korea but all around the world. People are suffering, and so much more will as climate change exacerbates. One of the main culprits of climate change is coal. A single coal-fired station can generate carbon emissions equivalent to 6 million cars on the road. Therefore, building new coal power plants directly contributes to climate change and takes away our right to have a livable planet in the future. Furthermore, coal inflicts substantial harm to people’s health. Since coal plants release particulate matter and toxic chemicals, those who live near the power plant are often vulnerable to deadly diseases. At this point, you might be guessing that the use of coal is cheap, that that’s why we still continue to build coal-fired stations despite all the hazards I mentioned above. Wrong. Coal is cheap only when we choose to simply ignore its societal costs. The final price of coal does not reflect the devastating impacts on our climate, ecosystem, and health. These costs, also known as “externalities,” are huge. According to the IMF report, the costs of climate change have already reached $1.27 trillion a year. But we don’t even have to delve into these facts to know that renewable energy is a better choice than coal. Renewable energy is getting cheaper and cheaper every day. For instance, in the U.S., wind power is now half the price of existing coal plants. Coal is increasingly considered to have high financial risks compared to renewable energy. This is why some of the leading banks such as Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered, and HSBC have recently decided to exclude any financing for coal-fired power plants. These banks divested from coal not because they are ethical but because they know that coal projects are not profitable in the long-run. The world’s scientists confirmed in the 2018 IPCC report that in order to avoid devastating climate catastrophes, we need to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. In order to achieve this goal, we need to end coal use as soon as possible. More specifically, it is suggested that OECD countries should phase out coal by 2030 and the non-OECD countries by 2040. This is not something radical; it is what we must do if we want to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement. The fight against coal is led by young people in many parts of the world. Last month, School Strike 4 Climate Australia called for a boycott of Samsung products, urging Samsung Securities to stop funding Adani’s coal project. Few days after their protest in front of a local Samsung store, Samsung Securities pledged to end its financial backing for Adani coal. Although this is a welcome change, we have so much more to do. There are still 2,425 coal power plants around the world, emitting massive amounts of greenhouse gases that threaten our lives. We the young people deserve a safe, clean, and sustainable future, and we cannot let fossil fuel billionaires ruin that. It is important that we hold polluters accountable and push corporations to stop using their money to back fossil fuel projects. This will be a hard fight, but we’ve got this if everyone is willing to be involved. Are you in? Sources https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/09/south-korean-heatwave-causes-record-deaths https://climateanalytics.org/briefings/coal-phase-out/ https://www.greenpeace.org/international/tag/coal/ https://350.org/science/ https://www.wrongcalloncoal.com/ https://endcoal.org/coal-myths/myth-1-coal-is-cheap/ http://ieefa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IEEFA-Report_100-and-counting_Coal-Exit_Feb-2019.pdf https://www.visualcapitalist.com/every-coal-power-plant-1927-2019/
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