ex UN climate chief Yvo de Boer on coal

This is not SMR-specific, but it is about coal, and it is relevant to SMR's current situation as a prospective coal miner:

http://www.rtcc.org/2015/04/11/former-un-climate-chief-yvo-de-boer-defends-coal-finance/
"Former UN climate chief Yvo de Boer defends coal finance
A former UN climate chief defended the use of climate finance for coal, in an exclusive interview with RTCC on Saturday.

Yvo de Boer, now head of the Global Green Growth Institute, also declined to back the growing fossil fuel divestment movement.

He argued that “a proper price on carbon” was a better way of tackling climate change than “declaring war” on a particular technology or fuel.

Coal will be a “necessary part of the energy mix for decades to come,” de Boer said on the sidelines of a sustainable cities conference in Seoul.

The polluting but cheap fuel is a “logical choice” for emerging economies like India, China and South Africa.

“You really have to be able to offer these countries an economically viable alternative, before you begin to rule out coal,” he said. [..]"

Note that De Boer is a green, a strong supporter of carbon pricing, so any sort of pro-coal statement by him is quite significant.