Energy

John Kerry Says US ‘Won’t Have Coal’ By 2030

(Photo by Riccardo Savi/Getty Images for Concordia Summit)

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Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry said Tuesday that the U.S. will completely phase out the use of coal as an energy source by 2030.

“By 2030 in the United States, we won’t have coal,” Kerry told Blomberg at the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow. “We will not have coal plants.”

“We’re saying we are going to be carbon free in the power sector by 2035. I think that’s leadership. I think that’s indicative of what we can do,” Kerry said during the interview. (RELATED: China Ramps Up Coal Production Despite Its Climate Promises)

Coal accounts for 25% of all the energy production in the U.S., and the largest power companies do not yet envision doing away with their fossil fuel emissions any sooner than 2050, according to Bloomberg.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projected mid-October the amount of electricity produced by coal plants to increase in 2021 for the first time in the past six years due to increased prices of natural gas.

Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, whose state is the second-largest coal-producing state in the country, has repeatedly voiced his opposition to any climate change policies that may hurt the coal industry, where 30,000 West Virginians are employed.

Manchin has criticized the Build Back Better Act’s chief climate provision, the Clean Energy Performance Program (CEPP), pushing for coal and natural gas’ inclusion.