The end of coal power in the UK proves the strength of people power – we can win a globally just transition
By: Liz Murray
Date: 30 September 2024
Campaigns: Climate
When the news came through on 7 October 2009 that plans for a new coal fired power plant at Kingsnorth in Kent had been shelved we knew we’d won something big.
This victory was an important one in its own right – as the power station would have produced more carbon dioxide emissions per year than Tanzania – and at Global Justice Now we’d been fighting it for the previous two years, along with many others in the climate movement. But it was more than this. This victory was a key milestone on the road to finally ending the burning of coal in the UK. Kingsnorth was never built, and nor were any other coal fired power stations from this point onwards.
Today, we will see the UK’s last coal-fired power plant at Ratcliffe-on-Soar close, ending the era of burning coal that’s lasted more than 140 years and led us to be one of the most polluting countries on the planet.
The previous campaign at Kingsnorth was one of many battles to stop new fossil fuel developments across the UK over many years. Not long after the Kingsnorth victory, we were part of a successful Scottish campaign to get a new coal-fired power station at Hunterston in Ayrshire stopped.
Since then, there have been big wins in stopping individual onshore and offshore oil developments and, most recently, getting plans to build the UK’s first deep coal mine in more than 30 years quashed. Over and over, we’ve shown the strength of the climate movement and that people power works.
Today is a particularly significant moment though, with the UK being the first major economy to achieve the milestone of phasing out coal power. Our people-powered movement must use this important moment to build on the victories we’ve had in the UK, to get to this point, and now to amplify the call for a globally just phase out of fossil fuels.
The world’s most climate vulnerable countries are calling for just this – for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty: a co-ordinated global exit plan from fossil fuels that would have justice and equity at its heart.
The treaty would ensure the transition away from fossil fuels is a fair one – with high-quality, secure jobs, and climate finance and support for countries whose economies are dependent on fossil fuels, to make an exit viable for all.
Every battle to stop individual fossil fuel developments like Kingsnorth power station is vital, but a treaty to co-ordinate the phase out of fossil fuels at a global level, and to speed the switch to renewable energy in a way that’s fair to every worker, every community and every country, would be a game changer. The UK government must now back this call.
Sign our fossil fuel treaty petition
Image credit: Unsplash
