Exclusive: France and the US propose a ban on private finance for coal-fired plants at COP28. France, backed by the United States, is to seek a halt to private finance for coal-based power facilities during the U.N. climate meeting later this month, three sources involved with the negotiations told Reuters in India and Europe.

The strategy, relayed to India earlier this month, may exacerbate differences at the COP28 meeting in Dubai running from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12, with India and China opposing any attempt to stop the development of coal-fired power stations for their energy-hungry countries.

France’s minister of state for development, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, notified the Indian government about the idea, named the “New Coal Exclusion Policy,” for private financial institutions and insurance companies, two Indian sources claimed.

The plan to ban private finance for coal-fired power facilities has not been previously publicized.

A spokesman for Zacharopoulou did not immediately answer an emailed question from Reuters. Still, he said financial investments in coal had been explored at multiple multilateral forums over the past few years.

India’s environment, electricity and renewable energy, coal, external affairs and information ministries, the OECD, and the French embassy in New Delhi did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

A European source familiar with the strategy said the aim was to dry up private money for coal power. It was a high priority for French President Emmanuel Macron during COP28, considered a crucial opportunity to expedite efforts to limit global warming.

The idea asks for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to set coal-exit norms for private finance firms whose financing could be tracked by regulators, rating agencies, and non-governmental groups, the two Indian officials said.

The U.S., European Union, and Canada, among others, have been seeking a strategy to speed coal phase-out, which they have characterized as the “number one threat” to climate targets.

They are concerned that private international money continues to promote significant coal expansion capacity in emerging nations, according to the proposal presented by France to India. The authorities added that some 490 gigawatts of new coal power, almost equal to one-fifth of existing worldwide capacity, are planned or under construction, mainly in India and China.

Rick Duke, Deputy U.S. Special Envoy on Climate Change, did not comment directly on the proposal but emphasized the rise in coal-fired plants.

“We are pushing to set an expectation globally that countries need to join us in the fastest possible power sector transition, including all that clean power deployment,” Duke added.

“And countries need to stop digging a deeper hole by building new unabated coal power plants, because unfortunately, there’s still some 500 gigawatts of new coal-fired power plants in the pipeline globally, and the IPCC and the International Energy Agency have both been quite clear that that needed to stop already.”

Member countries are divided on emissions abatement technologies that are yet to evolve to commercial scale for application in underdeveloped countries, one of the Indian officials said. About 73% of electricity consumed in India is produced using coal, even though the country has boosted its non-fossil capacity to 44% of its total installed power-producing capacity.

The country aims to reject the effort to specify a timeline for a fossil fuel phase-out or phase-down at COP28, as coal will be its primary energy source for a few more decades and may ask members to focus on lowering emissions from other sources. It may also force industrialized nations to become carbon-negative rather than carbon-neutral by 2050.