U.S. Leads Industrialised Nations in Shift from Coal: Study

The United States is leading a shift away from using coal among leading industrialized democracies, with Japan the main laggard in policies that will help to combat climate change, according to a study on Wednesday.

Behind the United States in the Group of Seven (G7) came France, Britain, Canada, Italy, Germany and Japan, the London-based E3G environmental think-tank said in a report issued during U.N. negotiations on a deal to slow global warming.

G7 nations agreed at a summit in Germany in June to aim for a decarbonization of the world economy this century to slow climate change.  The study said it was the first to assess G7 performance on coal, the most polluting fossil fuel.

"The United States has the largest challenge given the scale of its existing coal use, but is making the most positive progress of all the G7 nations," the report said.

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