During the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that all the country’s coal-fired plants will be shut down by 2021 — two years earlier than initially planned.

The initial pledge — to decommission all France’s coal plants by 2023 and make France carbon-neutral by 2050 — was made by Francois Hollande in November 2016 during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Morocco.

Mr Macron also strongly advocates the advantages and the economic benefits offered by climate action, maintaining — for example — that coal plants are not only an environmental burden but also not cost-competitive.

According to a recent report from Carbon Tracker (a London-based ‘think tank’) regarding the impact of climate change on the financial markets, more than 50% of the European Union’s 619 coal-fired plants are losing money — a figure set to rise to 97% by 2030.

Falling renewable-energy costs, stricter air pollution regulations and higher carbon prices are some of the reasons fossil fuels are increasingly out-priced by ‘clean energy’ technologies.

While France depends on coal-fired power for only about 1% of its energy needs, Mr Macron says he wants to send a strong signal about the country’s determination to become a ‘climate leader’.

He has also called for the EU to “set a stable carbon price” that will send the right signals to the energy market.