The United National Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the World Coal Association (WCA) have signed an agreement to formalise their long term collaboration on low emissions of coal.

Through the Memorandum of Understanding, (MoU), the two organisations will work to facilitate a dialogue between governments and the coal industry.

They aim to increase the awareness of the role of clean coal in the global energy mix and in providing access to affordable and reliable energy to all.

Christian Friis Bach, UNECE Executive Secretary said: “Coal will continue to be part of the global energy supply for the foreseeable future. Therefore, clean coal technologies are critical to achieve the goals in the Paris Climate Agreement including high efficiency-low emissions technologies, methane management, carbon capture and storage and identifying the most efficient coal resources.

“UNECE looks forward to working with the World Coal Association to achieve this.”

BP’s latest Energy Outlook forecasts renewables to be the fastest growing energy source in the next two decades but fossil fuels to remain the main source of energy.