Renewables do nothing to reduce demand for coal. Just look at Germany. Natural gas is the one and only thing offering the potential to reduce emissions.

According to the United Nations’s latest report, to meet the goals of the Paris agreement and reduce other risks, 2010 levels of global carbon dioxide emissions would need to be halved by 2030, and totally end around 2050. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicates that either limiting or ending emissions is not enough—carbon dioxide already existing in the atmosphere would have to be captured to stop global warming from becoming more severe.

The IPCC report finds meeting the carbon-reduction goals would require dramatic changes in how citizens get energy, how industries make everyday products, and how cities are designed. It would insert governments into the daily decisions of their citizens. Included in their recommendations are that people get out of cars—including electric cars and move to mass transit, and that laundry be line-dried, rather than dried using electric dryers.

Read more:

https://naturalgasnow.org/germany-shows-renewables-no-formula-replacing-coal/