COP-out coal pledge gives sector players chance to pivot away while the going is good

THE watered-down pledge coming out of the COP26 climate summit - to "phase down" coal - is good news for coal stocks. Even with a tougher wording, however, no one would have expected the sizzle over coal stocks, fanned further by the energy crunch playing out globally now, to flame out anytime soon.

For one, the transition out of fossil fuels (coal being the dirtiest of them) into clean energy is a long-term aspiration; hence, any big, meaningful shift will not occur soon.

The outcome of two intense weeks of talks in Glasgow, which ended up with a weakened anti-coal pledge in the final agreement, also underscores the importance of collective commitment and shows that the path to cut carbon emissions is far from binary, given divergent interests among developed and developing economies.