END TO COAL POWER BROUGHT FORWARD TO OCTOBER 2024
· UK Government brings forward the date to remove unabated coal from the UK’s energy mix by a whole year to 2024
· Key step in UK Government’s plans to decarbonise the power sector and eliminate the UK’s contribution to climate change by2050
· Move means that within just 10 years the UK will have reduced its reliance on coal for electricity from around a third to zero, helping the country build back greener
From 1 October 2024 the UK will no longer use coal to generate electricity, a year earlier than planned, Energy & Climate Change Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan announced today (Wednesday 30 June).
The move is part of ambitious Government commitments to transition away from fossil fuels and decarbonise the power sector in order to eliminate contributions to climate change by 2050. Today’s announcement confirms the intention set out by the Prime Minister last year to bring forward the deadline to end unabated coal-fired electricity generation.
This brings forward the deadline to phase out coal from the UK’s energy system by a whole year, highlighting the UK’s leadership to go further and faster in driving down emissions and lead by example in tackling climate change ahead of hosting the COP26 summit in Glasgow this November. The UK is similarly calling on all nations to accelerate the phase out of coal power.
The UK Government will introduce new legislation to do this at the earliest opportunity.
Coal is one of the most carbon intensive fossil fuels and responsible for harmful air pollution. By eliminating its use in electricity generation, the UK can make sure it plays a critical role in limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees – a key aim of its COP26 presidency.
The UK has made huge progress in reducing the use of coal across the power sector, with coal accounting for only 1.8% of the UK’s electricity mix in 2020, compared with 40% almost decade ago.
The announcement comes ahead of Energy & Climate Change Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan speaking at the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA) Europe Roundtable today on the importance of countries phasing out coal finance and how companies can implement such commitments, as part of London Climate Action Week. The UK Government has already ended its support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas earlier this year.
Energy & Climate Change Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said:
“Coal powered the industrial revolution two hundred years ago, but now is the time for radical action to completely eliminate this dirty fuel from our energy system.
“Today we’re sending a clear signal around the world that the UK is leading the way in consigning coal power to the history books and that we’re serious about decarbonising our power system so we can meet our ambitious, world-leading climate targets.
“The UK’s net zero future will be powered by renewables, and it is this technology that will drive the green industrial revolution and create new jobs across the country.”
UK Government Minister for Scotland David Duguid said:
"The UK Government’s commitment to end coal-fired electricity generation by 2024 is a huge step towards our Net Zero goal – and underpins our ambitious plans for a smooth energy transition as we work towards decarbonising the power sector.
“We must focus on the next-generation technology needed to support the UK’s green industrial revolution while harnessing Scotland’s highly-skilled workforce to protect and create jobs.”
The UK went 5,000 hours without coal-fired electricity in 2020, and earlier this year, broke a new wind power record, with just over a third of the country’s energy coming from wind. The rise in the use of renewables thanks to competition, free enterprise and government incentives to kick start new technologies has in turn helped to drive down the cost of green energy, with coal power now more expensive in most countries.
As one of the first countries to commit to ending coal power combined with its significant success in driving up renewables, the UK is leading the world in moving away from fossil fuels and significantly decarbonising its energy system.
Through its COP26 presidency, the UK Government is urging nations to follow its example and abandon coal power for good. In May, under the UK’s leadership, G7 Climate and Environment Ministers agreed to end all new finance for coal power by the end of 2021 and to accelerate the transition away from unabated coal capacity and to an overwhelmingly decarbonised power system in the 2030s.