In one of the "biggest breaking stories of 2018" illustrating the ongoing transition from fossil fuels to renewables, a top power plant developer has just announced that it will be pivoting away from coal in favor of sustainable energy.

Japanese energy company Marubeni will no longer be building coal-powered plants. Instead, it will be doubling the sustainable energy capacity of its net power supply from 10% to 20% by 2023.

The conglomerate also plans on reducing its environmental impact by slashing its coal-powered energy of 3GW by half.

According to Japanese newspaper Nikkei, the company plans to avoid job loss by reassigning their employees currently working on coal-related projects to their renewable energy initiatives as they develop.

"Marubeni Corporation recognizes that climate change is a major issue shared by all of humanity," said the company in a statement detailing their new initiative. "It is a problem that threatens the co-existence of the global environment and society, a problem that has an enormous effect on Marubeni's business and its shareholders, and a problem that Marubeni believes must be dealt with swiftly."

Marubeni is already one of the driving masterminds behind the Noor Abu Dhabi project: the largest solar project in the Middle East and one of the cheapest solar projects in the world.

With the company currently ranked as the world's 11th biggest coal power developer out of 120, the announcement is being hailed as a watershed victory for sustainability.

Energy finance specialist Tim Buckley made a post on Twitter saying that "this has to be one of the biggest breaking stories of 2018 in terms of energy transition."

Power Up With Positivity And Share The Good News With Your Friends – Representative photo by Tj.Blackwell, CC