De Boer headed the UN climate body at the 2009 Copenhagen summit. Now, as director general of the Global Green Growth Institute, he defended the use of “climate finance” for coal last week on the sidelines of a sustainable cities conference in Seoul, where the organisation is headquartered.

In doing so, he has backed the likes of Japan which has faced mounting protests for funnelling $US1 billion ($A1.28 billion) earmarked for “climate finance” for plants in Indonesia alone – and more on the way in India and Bangladesh.

His comments defied speakers at the ICLEI World Congress of local governments, which drew 2500 participants, who had urged mayors to divest city funds from fossil fuels.

De Boer was also the global chairman of KPMG’s climate change and sustainability services from 2010 to 2014, and before his UN post was head of the Netherlands Environment Ministry’s Climate Change Department.

WCA acting CEO Benjamin Sporton said that while the economic advantages of coal were “unquestionable”, the industry still faces the significant challenge of reducing global CO2 emissions – a point de Boer reiterated, calling for climate finance bodies to ensure new coal plants were built to the highest efficiency standards.

Talking to RTCC News, de Boer said “a proper price on carbon” was a better way of tackling climate change than “declaring war” on a particular technology or fuel, referring to the industry’s commonly use euphemism for US President Barack Obama’s “war on coal”

He said coal was a “logical choice” for emerging economies like India, China and South Africa.

“You really have to be able to offer these countries an economically viable alternative, before you begin to rule out coal,” he said.

“I think the Green Climate Fund should be investing primarily in renewables, in energy efficiency, in modern transport technology.”

Sporton was rapt at his new ally, considering de Boer’s successor, Christiana Figueres, told AAP after it was revealed Japan was using funds allocated to “climate finance” that there was “no argument” for a country to do so.

“Unabated coal has no room in the future energy system,” she told AAP at the time.

Repeating a common mantra by the fossil fuels industry, Sporton said energy poverty was still a “real concern: for the 1.3 billion people around the world who lack access to electricity.

“The WCA has long been championing the important role coal will play in bringing more and more people out of poverty,” Sporton said this week in response to de Boer’s comments.

“China is a fantastic example of the power of coal. Over the past three decades China has connected 99% of its population to the grid, whilst also seeing steel production rise by a factor of eighteen, and cement production by a factor of almost fourteen, which has seen its economy rapidly develop.”

The WCA recently released a concept paper on launching a global Platform for Accelerating Coal Efficiency (PACE), whose vision was for countries choosing to use coal to deploy the most efficient power plant technology possible.

“With coal so crucial to bringing energy to almost every corner of the world and demand forecast to continue to rise over coming decades, improving the efficiency of power plants around the globe would have a huge impact on reducing carbon dioxide emissions,” Sporton said.

“At present, the average efficiency of a coal-fired power plant is 33%. However, more advanced, off-the-shelf technology can significantly increase levels to 40%.”

Moving the global average efficiency level from 33% to 40% would cut two gigatonnes of CO2 emissions now; the equivalent of India’s annual carbon dioxide emissions, or running the Kyoto Protocol three times over, he noted.

De Boer’s comments echoed those of the WCA, which has repeatedly called for further support of cleaner coal technologies across the world.

With the IEA forecasting coal demand to grow 4.8% a year to 2035 in southeast Asia and power generation from coal to double in India by 2040, WCA believes high-efficiency, low-emissions (HELE) technology and carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) are both vital tools in efforts to reduce global emissions.

“Rather than ignoring coal’s role in providing energy access, the international community should be supporting developing countries deploy cleaner coal technologies,” Sporton said.