"To meet our goal of 100 percent carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035, we need to phase out unabated coal," Mr. Kerry said in a Dec. 2 statement, in which he announced that the United States had officially joined a coalition of 56 other countries who all plan to ditch coal in the name of climate change.

"We will be working to accelerate unabated coal phase-out across the world, building stronger economies and more resilient communities," Mr. Kerry said in his statement.

"The first step is to stop making the problem worse: stop building new unabated coal power plants."

While no specific date was given for when the Biden administration plans to nix America's existing coal plants, other regulatory actions by the administration zero in on 2035 as the year when coal ends.

Just under 20 percent of U.S. electricity was powered by coal as of October 2023, according to the Department of Energy (DOE).