Greece and New Taipei City are among six new members that have joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA) at the UN climate summit in Spain this week.

A total of 33 national governments, 27 subnational governments and 37 businesses have now committed to phasing out unabated coal for electricity production under the Alliance, which was launched by the UK and Canada in 2017.

Other new members include the Province of Ilocos in the Philippines, Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company, the Caisse des Dépôts Group (CDC) and the Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church and Epworth IM.

Members of the PPCA have so far contributed to around 35% of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) total coal capacity now being scheduled to close, corresponding to around 20% of the world’s coal capacity outside of China.

On behalf of the UK and Canadian Co-chairs of the Alliance, Jonathan Wilkinson, Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate Change said: “The Powering Past Coal Alliance is making a significant difference in accelerating the global shift away from the most polluting form of power generation and doing so in a way that takes into account the legitimate economic concerns of citizens.

“We welcome the new members and look forward to their contributions to this important movement.”

The PCCA added it will also be creating a new Finance Taskforce that will work alongside national and sub-national members and the Utilities and Just Transition Taskforces to accelerate the closure of coal power stations.