Coal is one of the dirtiest power sources, and increasingly around the world it is recognized that its burning must stop if we are to retain a planet easy to live on.
Later this year, there will be a climate conference held in Glasgow and the British government have been keen to make sure that it moves things forwards – if sea levels rise as much as predicted, life in the UK will change dramatically, not least as the UK could become an archipelago.
The UK is already a great deal of the way to meeting this goal, with coal use having fallen from 40% of power mix a decade ago, to 1.8% of power in 2020. It should be noted that this elimination leaves coal use in the steel industry untouched. A move should be made on this front though it looks like the government will take some persuasion – only last year the government cleared the way for a new coal mine for this purpose, only changing tack after pressure was brought to bare.
The British government has also been repeatedly embarrassed by still failing to identify how they are going to bring UK net emissions to zero by 2050 – not only a plan is long overdue, but action is needed. The faster cuts are required, the harder it will be. It will be quite unacceptable for the government to fail on this.
