The United Kingdom has announced a new deadline it intends to end the use of coal in electricity generation. The country now aims to completely retire coal-fired power generation by October 2024, a year earlier than its previous deadline. The UK also urged other nations to follow suit and wean themselves off the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel. Energy minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said ending coal use could help achieve a target to limit the global temperature increase at 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The world’s first coal-fired power plant was set up in the UK in the 1880s. In the following centuries, the kingdom relied heavily on fossil fuels to generate electricity. However, it managed to cut its use of coal in the power sector from 25% in 2015 to below 2% in 2020.
