THE DEADLINE for the phase-out of coal from Britain’s energy system is planned to be brought forward a year to 1 October 2024, the Prime Minister announced in his speech to launch COP26 yesterday.
The government will consult on bringing the deadline for ending unabated coal forward from 2025 to 2024, part of its drive to go further and faster on decarbonising the power sector, as it works towards net zero by 2050.
New statistics released today show the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 2.1% between 2017 and 2018, thanks in large part to the rapid decline of coal-powered electricity generation.
Last year more than half of the UK’s electricity came from low-carbon sources.
This means the UK has cut its emissions by 43% since 1990 while growing the economy by more than two thirds – the best performance of any G7 nation.
Business and Energy Secretary Andrea Leadsom commented on the news:
“The UK has a proud record in tackling climate change and making the most of the enormous economic potential of clean technologies.
“This is my number one priority, and we will raise our ambition in this year of climate action.
“Coal-generated energy will soon be a distant memory as we plan to decarbonise every sector of our economy, enabling a greener future for all our children.”
The government will also bring forward an end to the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans to 2035, or earlier if a faster transition is feasible, subject to consultation, as well as include hybrids for the first time.
Coal is the most carbon intensive fossil fuel and is responsible for harmful air pollution.
Last year Great Britain went 3,700 hours without using coal for power, nearly 5 times more than the whole of 2017.
There are currently four active coal generators, one of which has announced closure in March 2020.
Britain was one of the first countries in the world to commit to ending unabated coal generation.
Existing policies are already cutting our reliance on coal from around 40% in 2012 to less than 3% in 2019.
The contribution of renewables is now at record levels, standing at 33%.
