End of coal power in UK is near

The story: Coal is out of favour, and how! Many are talking of "peak coal", and some, like the UK, may phase it out in near future.

End of coal power in UK is near

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• The story: Coal is out of favour, and how! Many are talking of "peak coal", and some, like the UK, may phase it out in near future.
• The UK situation: A decade ago, 40 percent of the country’s electricity was generated with coal, but it will end its use of coal-fired power by October 2024, a year earlier than scheduled, as it pushes other countries toward greater climate ambition ahead of a global warming summit it's hosting in November 2021 (Glasgow).
• Dirty fuel not needed: UK authorities feel that while coal powered the industrial revolution 200 years ago (which started from Britain itself), but now was the time for radical action to completely eliminate this dirty fuel from energy systems. And the UK is almost there - coal accounted for just 1.8% of the U.K.'s electricity mix in 2020, with roughly 43% coming from renewable sources such as wind and solar.
• Laws: The UK government plans to introduce legislation on the coal phaseout “at the earliest opportunity,” it said. It will only apply to coal used in electricity generation, not other sectors such as the steel industry. It has come a long way from the days when a thick blanket of coal-fueled smog fell over London in the 1950s. As recently as a decade ago, coal accounted for roughly 40% of the country's power generation.
• Not all are ready: But his proactive action may not be enough to bring everyone along. Experts feel that a country with a de minimus residual coal fleet may not necessarily shame big coal consumers into radical change. There are countries where it's going to be a big deal to transition off coal, and there are countries where it's not.

1. Leaders of the Group of Seven nations agreed in June '21 at the Cornwall summit to end financial support for international coal power generation without carbon capture by the end of the year and to move toward an “overwhelmingly” decarbonized power system by the 2030s.
2. But getting them to commit to an end date for coal power has been harder given domestic politics in places like Japan and the U.S., where it could upend President Biden's infrastructure bill. Germany passed a law in 2020 to end coal-fired power generation by 2038.

• Global downturn: Still, coal has hit the skids globally as costs for mining and generation have grown and more countries have committed to stricter targets for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. Coal is a leading contributor to the growth in emissions, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Research shows that coal needs to be phased out globally by 2040 to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement. The U.K. passed legislation in 2019 to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and has been pushing other countries to commit to coal phaseout dates ahead of the United Nations climate summit being held in Scotland in November '21.

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