COP21 is expected to bring about the world’s first comprehensive climate deal spanning both the developed and developing worlds, though it is unclear whether it will actually result in ambitious mitigation targets for all countries.

World Coal Association policy manager Aleks Tomczak said COP21 would structure climate and energy policy developments worldwide as governments debate and consult domestic stakeholders to define national mitigation pledges in the framework of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).

“There is no doubt that the event which structures policy and regulatory developments of interest to the coal industry in 2015 is COP21 in Paris,” Tomczak said.

“Some of the most important jurisdictions, including the European Union, China, the US, South Africa, Australia and Japan will see climate policies debated as part of the preparations for the international climate negotiations.

“Although it is far from certain that COP21 will result in ambitious mitigation targets for all countries, the preparatory work which needs to be done nationally will be carefully scrutinised throughout the year by interested stakeholders and the approaching COP21 is likely to put climate and energy policies at the top of the political agenda in a number of jurisdictions,” Tomczak said.

“The preparatory work which needs to be done nationally will be carefully scrutinised throughout the year by interested stakeholders and the approaching COP21 is likely to put climate and energy policies at the top of the political agenda in a number of jurisdictions.”

The international community set itself a deadline at COP21 in Paris this year to agree on a comprehensive climate deal which will, for the first time in the world’s history, cover both developed and developing countries under a single agreement.

The November 30-December 11 COP21 event will be the conclusion of four years of negotiations under the Durban Platform which was established during COP17 in South Africa.

Tomczak said the deal at COP21 could be expected to follow a bottom-up approach whereby countries made pledges which reflect their national circumstances.

“This is very different to the top-down approach adopted in the Kyoto Protocol which had a global mitigation target and country targets allocated based on the developed/developing country division,” he said.

Last year the coal industry saw a number of important changes to policies and regulations at the national and international level which directly affect coal demand and the business of mining coal.

Among the most important in the eyes of the WCA were the carbon tax repeal in Australia, the US Environmental Protection Authority’s carbon dioxide emission limits on new and existing power plants, the EU’s initial agreement on the 2030 energy and climate package and the election of a new Prime Minister in India.

The latter event has already engendered one key deal with US President Barack Obama around solar and nuclear, ironically seen by environmentalists as a victory over fossil fuels.

Yet many on the Left still vividly remember when India’s Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar told the UN climate change summit in New York last September: “The moral principle of historic responsibility [those countries which have historically emitted the most] cannot be washed away.”