An historic milestone occured last week, when the United Kingdom became the first major country to entirely eliminate the use of coal as part of its energy mix, disconnecting its last coal-fired power station in Ratcliffe-on-Soar from the electricity grid on Monday. Days later, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer paid tribute to Britain’s industrial plant whilst announcing a £22 billion investment in Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in Merseyside and Teeside.
The ending of coal use in the birthplace of the industrial revolution was seen as widely symbolic, ending a 150 year history of industrial coal-power. The move was welcomed by Greenpeace UK’s Policy Director Dr Doug Parr, who said, “Britain has set an example the rest of the world must follow,” and commended pressure from environmental activists to urge successive UK Governments to transition away from coal, labelling the milestone ‘a tribute to so many in the climate movement who have campaigned for this moment for nearly 20 years.’
Parr also praised the ‘proactive support’ for workers at the plant to retrain in the renewable sector, emphasising the need for all countries to support industrial workers through the energy transition. Former Green Party of England and Wales Leader Caroline Lucas echoed this on Twitter, giving “thanks to the workers who powered our past,” and calling the end of coal power “a vital moment in a green transition which must be fair & support communities.”
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Prime Minister Keir Starmer began his speech in North-West England on Friday with a similar message, describing coal as “the power that built this country for many years.” However, he went on to insist that ‘decarbonisation doesn’t mean deindustrialisation’ as he and his Chancellor, Rachel Reeves announced £21.7 billion investment over 35 years in two CCS clusters. The Prime Minister claimed he ‘knew how to rewrite our history in the ink of the future,’ lauding the “secure jobs” that would be provided and emphasising how CCS can make heavy industries such as glass and cement environmentally sustainable without limiting production. He also framed the development of carbon-capture technology as “a race we can win,” citing the UK’s “geology” and “financial know-how.”
However, the announcement of such a large investment in carbon-capture was widely criticised by the UK’s environmental groups. Greenpeace UK condemned on Twitter the investment in CCS technology as a strategy which ‘allows fossil fuel companies to continue polluting,’ saying the money should instead have been invested to “insulate millions of homes and build thousands of wind turbines,” actions the Greenpeace account described as “the real solutions to stop emissions and bring bills down.” Professor Peter Styring, Professor of Chemical Engineering & Chemistry at the University of Sheffield, told the Science Media Centre that the investment announcement ‘falls far short of addressing the emissions problem,” whilst condemning the failure of the government to find a way to “use the captured carbon dioxide to make value added products rather than landfill storage under the North Sea.”
Meanwhile, conservationist Dr Charlie Gardner summed up the criticism succinctly on social media. “If your bath is overflowing, you don’t start investing in fancy new mops. You turn off the tap.”
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