The U.K. just closed its last coal power plant
The U.K. was the world’s first country to build a coal power plant. Now, 142 years later, it’s also the first major economy to stop using any coal to make electricity. The country’s last coal power plant, built in 1967, shut down on September 30. Renewable energy—including thousands of massive wind turbines—now makes up around half of the U.K.’s power generation. The government has been making the case that other countries can do the same thing. “The U.K. has played a very active role in trying to tell the rest of the world that moving away from coal is feasible,” says Ailun Yang, who leads global energy transition initiatives for Bloomberg Philanthropies, including the Bloomberg Global Coal Countdown. “And actually, it’s better for the economy.” For decades, coal provided almost all of the country’s electricity. It was a major source of emissions: Since the first plant opened, U.K. coal plants have produced 10.4 billion metric tons of CO2 emissions, according to an analysis from Carbon Brief. That’s more than the lifetime emissions from all sources in other most other countries. In the 1990s, after the E.U. passed a rule to fight acid rain (another problem caused by coal power plants), the U.K. started using more gas at power plants. In the early 2000s, the EU set up a carbon trading scheme, putting a price on emissions. By 2008, the U.K. had set a national target to cut emissions. It started with a goal of 60% reductions by 2050; now it plans to reach net zero by that date. The steep drop in the cost of renewable energy helped make the full transition away from coal possible. Unambiguous policy was also key. “The U.K. made a very clear commitment, long ago: ‘We are going to do this. We’re going to phase out coal,’” says Yang. That didn’t happen in some other places, including the U.S. “When you have ambiguities, whether you’re getting rid of coal or not, then you don’t put in supportive policies in a decisive way,” she says. “That prolongs the pain of communities, and causes lost opportunities for communities to take on alternative development models.” The U.K. has done well, she says, in helping coal plant workers transition to new jobs. Globally, the transition away from coal is accelerating, though unevenly. A decade ago, 75 countries had coal power plants in development. Now only 40 countries do. Around 21 gigawatts of coal power was retired last year, but at the same time, nearly 70 gigawatts of new coal power came online. Most new coal power is being planned and built in China and India. (The transition was easier in the U.K. in part because so much manufacturing has moved to places like China, so it doesn’t need as much electricity overall.) Still, even there, renewable energy is also quickly growing. The world added an enormous 500 gigawatts of new renewable energy last year; China was responsible for 100 gigawatts of that. This year, for the first time, clean energy makes up more than half of China’s electricity supply. Even with challenges like the boom in electricity demand from AI—meaning that some old coal plants aren’t being retired as quickly as they otherwise could be—Yang believes that the world can wean itself off coal power by 2050. Developed countries should be able to get there much faster, if the U.K. hit the goal by 2024. Now, with the last coal plant closed, the U.K. plans to completely decarbonize its electric grid by 2030, five years earlier than it originally planned.
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The U.K. was the world’s first country to build a coal power plant. Now, 142 years later, it’s also the first major economy to stop using any coal to make electricity.
The country’s last coal power plant, built in 1967, shut down on September 30. Renewable energy—including thousands of massive wind turbines—now makes up around half of the U.K.’s power generation.
The government has been making the case that other countries can do the same thing. “The U.K. has played a very active role in trying to tell the rest of the world that moving away from coal is feasible,” says Ailun Yang, who leads global energy transition initiatives for Bloomberg Philanthropies, including the Bloomberg Global Coal Countdown. “And actually, it’s better for the economy.”
For decades, coal provided almost all of the country’s electricity. It was a major source of emissions: Since the first plant opened, U.K. coal plants have produced 10.4 billion metric tons of CO2 emissions, according to an analysis from Carbon Brief. That’s more than the lifetime emissions from all sources in other most other countries.
In the 1990s, after the E.U. passed a rule to fight acid rain (another problem caused by coal power plants), the U.K. started using more gas at power plants. In the early 2000s, the EU set up a carbon trading scheme, putting a price on emissions. By 2008, the U.K. had set a national target to cut emissions. It started with a goal of 60% reductions by 2050; now it plans to reach net zero by that date.
The steep drop in the cost of renewable energy helped make the full transition away from coal possible. Unambiguous policy was also key. “The U.K. made a very clear commitment, long ago: ‘We are going to do this. We’re going to phase out coal,’” says Yang.
That didn’t happen in some other places, including the U.S. “When you have ambiguities, whether you’re getting rid of coal or not, then you don’t put in supportive policies in a decisive way,” she says. “That prolongs the pain of communities, and causes lost opportunities for communities to take on alternative development models.” The U.K. has done well, she says, in helping coal plant workers transition to new jobs.
Globally, the transition away from coal is accelerating, though unevenly. A decade ago, 75 countries had coal power plants in development. Now only 40 countries do. Around 21 gigawatts of coal power was retired last year, but at the same time, nearly 70 gigawatts of new coal power came online.
Most new coal power is being planned and built in China and India. (The transition was easier in the U.K. in part because so much manufacturing has moved to places like China, so it doesn’t need as much electricity overall.) Still, even there, renewable energy is also quickly growing. The world added an enormous 500 gigawatts of new renewable energy last year; China was responsible for 100 gigawatts of that. This year, for the first time, clean energy makes up more than half of China’s electricity supply.
Even with challenges like the boom in electricity demand from AI—meaning that some old coal plants aren’t being retired as quickly as they otherwise could be—Yang believes that the world can wean itself off coal power by 2050. Developed countries should be able to get there much faster, if the U.K. hit the goal by 2024. Now, with the last coal plant closed, the U.K. plans to completely decarbonize its electric grid by 2030, five years earlier than it originally planned.
