Burying Coal: Britain shows the way

Coal is still an uncomfortably important source of power for much of the world. But the UK shows how countries can shed their dependence

Global coal use

Coal still makes up a worryingly large proportion of global electricity production – nearly 40 per cent by the most recent count. Unsurprisingly, emerging countries with plenty of it in the ground are particularly heavy users – for instance, 93 per cent of South African electricity is generated by burning the stuff. That should fall as the country, blessed by sunny skies and large open spaces discovers the benefits of solar power. But only if the many thousands employed by its coal industry can be persuaded that cleaner energy will open up new job opportunities. 

A bigger concern for the environment is India’s and China’s continued reliance on coal power – 75 per cent and 70 per cent of total electricity production respectively. These are vast and energy hungry countries that will surely use even more power as they strain to develop their economies.

But destructive and at times catastrophic levels of urban pollution are finally forcing both governments to re-think their energy policies.

Perhaps more surprising is the degree to which some developed countries rely on coal. Australia, for instance, generates 63 per cent of its electricity from coal. Sure, it’s a big producer, but it also benefits from geography that should make solar an attractive alternative. Germany, meanwhile, is one of Europe’s biggest burners of coal, generating 44 per cent of its electricity from the fuel. That is in no small part a consequence of its decision to shut down its nuclear facilities in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011. Less than a decade ago, 17 reactors satisfied a quarter of the country’s electricity demand. That figure has since halved as 10 of those reactors were mothballed.

UK coal consumption

Other countries that have relatively low consumption of coal – like Canada, Mexico and Russia – aren’t necessarily paragons, either. They burn oil instead.

The UK is one beacon, however. As recently as 1988, it was burning 88 million tonnes of coal to drive its electricity-generating steam turbines. Less than 30 years later that figure was a tenth (8.7 million tonnes in 2017).  By the first half of 2019, only around 3 per cent of UK electricity production was being generated by burning coal, which was less than wind, solar and hydro combined.

How did the UK do it? Recent government regulation prompting a shift out of coal power and subsidies for clean energy were key, though the shift from coal started with the closing of British coal mines by Margaret Thatcher’s government in the 1980s. One factor was a fall in electricity consumption – replacing incandescent lightbulbs with LEDs and other efficiencies have started to make a difference. Another was the growth of renewables. So too was the increasing use of gas – which is cleaner than coal but still pumps out greenhouse gases. But it does show that, at the margins, it really is possible to change the world – and, indeed, by the third quarter of 2019 renewables generated more electricity in the UK than all the fossil fuel sources combined.

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Mega

Mega seeks to energise and enrich the debate over how to create a better-functioning economy and society.

Megatrends are the powerful socio-economic, environmental and technological forces that shape our planet. The digitisation of the economy, the rapid expansion of cities and the depletion of the Earth’s natural resources are just some of the structural trends transforming the way countries are governed, companies are run and people live their lives.

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