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The UK has moved the target for the end of coal electricity generation to October 2024.
- The UK is also pushing for countries to stop financing coal projects by the end of the year.
- Coal currently provides 2% of the UK’s current energy needs.
The UK government has said that it will bring forward its target for ending coal electricity generation to October 2024. Britain believes that this will spur other countries to act faster in cutting their climate emissions. The U.K.’s energy and climate change minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan has stated that the government would introduce legislation to enforce the move. “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,” Trevelyan added.
To meet climate targets, Britain has reduced coal electricity generation to below 2 per cent of its electricity mix in 2020 from around 25 per cent five years ago. London’s COP26 team, including president Alok Sharma, intends to convince countries to stop financing coal projects that emit carbon by the end of the year.
However, some green and environmental groups have expressed concerns about the government’s commitment given the recent proposals for the development of a new coal mine in northern England and an oil project in Scotland.