UK Journey to phaseout coal power
Dr Matthew Webb
Deputy Director, COP26 Energy Transition Campaign
Dept for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy
UK Government
8 July 2022

UK’s long transition from coal
UK production peaked in 1913 at292 m.t employing 1.1m miners

Coal Trucks lined up forexport in Cardiff dock

UK Team visiting Big
Pit near Merthyr Tydfil –south Wales – now aNational Museum
commemorating Coalmining in WalesHistory of UK coal sector
Economy-wide
In 1575, the first coal mine was sunk under
the Firth of Forth. By 1700, British coal outputstood at about 3m tonnes, increasing to meetdemand for fuel to power steam engines. It
grew to a height of 287m tonnes by early 20thCentury.
At its height the UK coal mining industry
employed 1.2million people.
Closures
Pit closures began in the Post-War period
as UK mining could not economicallycompete with cheap imported coal

Whole villages and towns were fed,
fuelled and built on the coal mining
industry and the employment it brought.

The 1980s Miners strikes were a defining
moment for the UK labour movement andthe affects are still felt
December 2015 – last deep
coal mines closed
Open cast mining has
steadily declined since 2010

All of society

Imports
By 2005 imports exceeded domestic
production. However, coal demandhas steadily declined since due todecling coal power generation

1840s a Royal Commission looked
into child labour – changing laws.
Modern Trade Unionism in the UK
formed out of the coal sector, withKeir Hardie (a former miner) being
the first Labour MP.

Legacy
Mitigating the effects• Social security net• Creation of the Welsh Development Agency to encourage investment and job creation inex South Wales coal mining areas• European Union funding• Civil society: e.g. Coalfields Regeneration Trust

De-Industrialisation•

Based on 2017 data the UK now has 7 regions
defined as below the average GDP (Eurostat data)– this is up from 3 in prior data sets.

They are:• West Wales and the Valleys (home of coal mining);• Southern Scotland;• Cornwall & Isles of Scilly• Outer London - East & North East
• Lincolnshire• South Yorkshire• Tees Valley & Durham

Transition
Blyth subsea
manufacturing
facility and gigavolt
factory

Hull Green PortSiemens Gamesa
Heat? One quarter of UK
homes and businesses areabove abandoned coal minesUK policy journey from coal fired
power generation-Electricity Market Reform 2012
Carbon price support
Capacity Market Mechanism
Contract for Difference, Renewable Obligation, Feed-in-Tariffs
Energy Performance Standard for new build generation (2014)
Coal phase out commitment (2015)

Decoupling economic growth from emissions

The impact on power generation

Present (generation mix)
▪ Coal fired generation reduced from around 40% in 2012 to less than
2% in 2020
▪ In 2020 Great Britain went 5,000 hours without using coal for powerand achieved 2 months of coal free operation in 2020
▪ Renewable technologies generated more electricity than fossil fuels
for the first time in 2020
▪ Currently 2 active coal generators▪ UK announced that it would bring forward coal phase out to 2024,
which would mean that in 10 years we have reduced our reliance on
unabated coal generation from around a third of our electricity supply
to zero▪ National Grid aiming for 100% zero carbon capability in 2025

▪ UK committed to decarbonise electricity system by 2035

Russia/Ukraine: implications

Russia/Ukraine implications
British Energy Security Strategy – April 2022
▪ Nuclear: up to 8 new reactors progressed over next series of projects, total
24GW by 2050, ~25% of projected demand▪ Solar: Solar capacity expected increase 5x by 2035 to ~70GW through simplified
planning processes and consult of amending planning▪ Offshore and Onshore wind: Ambition for up to 50GW offshore wind by 2030,including 5GW floating (halving planning and regulation for offshore), consult on
partnerships and community benefits for onshore wind.

▪ Hydrogen: double ambition to up to 10GW of low carbon hydrogen production by2030▪ Oil & Gas: Phase our Russian oil and coal by end 2022 and Russian LNG gas
imports asap. Develop climate compatibility checkpoint for new licencing▪ Contingency measures: Negotiations with 4 coal generators due to close in
2022 as emergency contingency. Government remains committed to coal phaseout in 2024.

The global challenge
2030: Phase out unabated coal inadvanced economies
2035: Overall net-zero emissions
electricity in advanced economies
To this end, we commit to achieving a fully or
predominantly decarbonised power sector by2035. Recognising that coal power
generation is the single biggest cause of
global temperature increase, we commit toprioritising concrete and timely steps towards
the goal of accelerating phase-out ofdomestic unabated coal power generation.
G7 Leaders Statement, Elmau June 2022

Source: IEA

International Collaboration on the Energy Transition• COP26 Energy Transition Campaign, supported by the Powering Past Coal
Alliance and the Energy Transition Council results in 190-strong coalition ofcountries and organisations at COP26, with countries such as Poland,Vietnam, Egypt, Chile and Morocco announcing commitments to phase out
coal power.
• Glasgow Climate Pact sees parties agree to phase down unabated coalpower and end inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.
• Establishment of Just Energy Transition Partnerships, including with RSA,
Vietnam, Indonesia