Today, the UK closed its last coal-fired power plant, marking the end of 142 years of reliance on coal for electricity.
The Ratcliffe-on-Soar power plant in Nottinghamshire operated for 57 years and once employed 3,000 workers. Today, the 170 remaining staff gathered in the plant’s cafeteria to watch a live broadcast from the control room as the generating units were shut down for the final time.
Burning coal releases carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.
The UK was the first country to operate a coal-fired power plant, the Holborn Viaduct, in 1882. It has now become the first G-7 country (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, US) to stop relying on coal, following European countries like Sweden and Belgium, which did so earlier.
The largest coal power plants have been shut down for years, as shown by the decline in the share of coal-generated electricity. In the early 1980s, coal provided 80% of the UK’s electricity, but by 2012, that figure had fallen to 40%. Climate activists have praised the closure, seeing it as a key government achievement in reducing carbon emissions.
