"Coal: The Time to Divest Is Now", 6 Nov 2015

Earlier this year, the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund...decided to divest from coal... The total amount of divestment pledges now totals $2.6 trillion...

A significant amount of the coal currently mined...is not used for energy production but as part of the process of making steel... Coal is also still an important part of the energy mix in poorer countries. It would be a sad outcome indeed if coal were phased out in the wealthy world, but maintained or even grew its market share in poorer nations... 

With regard to steel production, several viable alternatives to coal are worth pursuing... Addressing coal as an energy source in poorer countries is a more difficult challenge, but there is some very good news... A consortium of NGOs is backing an initiative called The Paris Pledge, which calls on banks to pledge to stop financing the coal economy... [Refers to restrictions or negative decisions on coal financing by National Australia Bank, Crédit Agricole, Citigroup, Natixis]

With concerted efforts from activists, asset owners, and entrepreneurs, we may see the end of the dirtiest of energy sources far quicker than we had hoped. [also refers to Engie, Edelman, Adani]