UK Edition
Coal power to be phased out by 2024 as Boris Johnson says UK has duty to fight climate change as first industrialised nation
The Prime Minister intends to bring forward the deadline for ending the use of coal-fire power stations that do not offset emissions
Coal power will be phased out by 2024, Boris Johnson confirmed on Tuesday as he declared that the UK had a duty as the first industrialised nation to lead the fight against climate change.
After declaring a “year of climate action” alongside Sir David Attenborough, the Prime Minister has announced plans to bring forward the deadline for ending the country’s reliance on coal power.
The proposal, which is subject to consultation, means that “unabated” coal-fired power stations - plants that lack the technology to capture and store their carbon emissions - will be forced to close a year earlier than planned.
However, ministers believe that all coal power generation is likely to end within a matter of years, with one of just four generators left due to close in March.
Last year Britain also went more than five months without using coal to produce electricity, including an entire fortnight in May, representing the longest stretch since the late 19th century.
The announcement came as Mr Johnson hailed Britain for leading a “revolution in renewable energy”, highlighting that the country’s dependency on coal for electricity has dropped from 70 percent to 3 percent since 1990.
Launching the 26th United Nations Climate Conference (COP26), due to take place in Glasgow in November, Mr Johnson highlighted that carbon emissions had also fallen by 43 percent during the same period.
Calling on all nations to join the UK in setting legally-binding targets to reach net zero by 2050, Mr Johnson said: “We’re the first major economy to make that commitment, I think it’s the right thing to do.
“I think it’s quite proper that we should. We were the first after all to industrialise. We have a responsibility to our planet to lead in this way and to do this.”
Mr Johnson added that the transition to greener energy and transport was also helping to “unite and level up” the country, pointing out that the North and North East had taken the “lead in renewable energy”.
“The world’s biggest offshore wind turbines are built beside the Humber, the carbon capture storage is being pioneered on the banks of the Tees, one in five electric vehicles sold in Europe is built on the banks of the Wear,” he continued.
“We’re going to do it by 2050, we’re setting the pace, I hope everybody will come with us.”
He was joined at the Science Museum in central London by Sir David, who told attendees: “It is now up to us to put before the nations of the world what has to be done.
“We don’t need to emphasise to them or to you that the longer that we leave it, not doing things but going on talking about the problems, the worse it is going to get.
“In the end, unless we do something, it becomes insoluble.
“That’s why it is so encouraging to know that the present government has declared this year the year, not of talking about it, not of alarming people, but of action.”
However, the event risked being overshadowed by a mounting row with Claire Perry O’Neill, a former energy minister who Mr Johnson sacked as president of COP26 on Friday last week.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mrs Perry O’Neill claimed that the Prime Minister had privately admitted that he “doesn’t really understand” climate change and had shown a “huge lack of leadership and engagement.”
Comparing the UK’s performance to that of a League One football club, she added: "We are playing at Oxford United levels and we need to be Liverpool if we are going to actually do what the world needs us to do.”
Downing Street refused to comment when asked about her claims.