STEPHEN M GRANT

Later this year, the UK is due to host COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow which, thanks to vaccinations, is looking increasingly likely to go ahead. Since the 2019 Climate Change Act Britain has gone further and boldly announced a leadership position in a 'green industrial revolution', with ambitious targets backed in law and a track record that gives credence to this claim of leadership. Since 1990, the UK has cut its carbon emissions faster than any other rich country at 44%1. Germany, by contrast, is down by 29%. All this is good news and these are undeniably good credentials for the UK as Conference hosts.

 

In 2015, some 40% of our energy came from coal. The proportion for 2020 looks set to be under 6%, and from April 12 to June 15th last year we used no coal at all to generate power. Drax power station – hailed as the cleanest and most efficient coal-fired station in the UK – is soon to close.

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Yet with everything seemingly headed in the right direction, we then announce that we are opening a new coal mine. It beggars belief. We have committed to zero coal, so how on earth can it be that we are opening another mine?

 

The answer proffered is that it's coking coal for steel production, as though 'that's alright then' would be the expected reply. The coal is destined for export to Europe, one of the reasons being that its high sulphur content wouldn't meet British emissions standards. Are we to think that somewhere in this green a pleasant land, a group of supposedly intelligent people have sat down and reasoned that it's not good enough for the British atmosphere, so it can go to Europe? Planning Minister Robert Jenrick takes a similarly meteorologically challenged view when he said it was 'a local issue'. To be fair, he was speaking in terms of local democracy and decision making, but the point remains because that local decision affects the planet, not just the air above Whitehaven.

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As Greenpeace's John Saven observed; 'let's hope China doesn't take the same view or the world will be toast'.

 

The assumed merit of the argument is that it will save on the need to import coal and save on transportation costs as it will not have to come from North America or Australia. But according to Roger Harrabin of the BBC, steel manufacturers are saying not just that they are looking for alternatives to coal, but there are ample and reliable supplies already. Demand for coal in Europe is contracting, not growing.

 

Climate tsar Alok Sharma was widely reported to be 'apoplectic' over the decision, as were many civil servants. I can see why.  According to PNN, one Whitehall source said “It fucks us at the very moment the world is watching us and expecting us to step up on the issue”. Sharma, it seems, was not even consulted on the decision.

 

The latest development is that Cumbria County Council has announced that it will 'reconsider' the plans in light of 'new information'. The company behind the application, West Cumbria Mining, is seeking a judicial review.

 

To allow this mine to go ahead is, to my mind, a mistake that would rightly be thrown in our faces for decades to come. Quite how we are to stand at a global lectern urging developing nations not to mine their rich seams of coal whilst we open up a new mine just a few miles down the M74 is well beyond me.

 

We can only hope that good sense will prevail. The chairman of the government's own Climate Change Committee, Lord Debden, has made their views abundantly clear, calling for new guidance for local authorities as regards their responsibilities to the climate commitment. In other words, not just that this shouldn't happen, but it must be prevented from happening again.

 

We cannot shout that we espouse all evil, only to choose a 'lesser' evil. This mine would be a huge embarrassment not just to the government, but to the nation itself and I predict that won't be lost on the PM. With fingers crossed and eyes squeezed tight, I predict that this mine will not go ahead.