The website of the proposed mine in Whitehaven, UK Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
The UK is ready to assemble its first coal mine in three a long time after the federal government accepted plans for a proposed undertaking in Cumbria, regardless of widespread opposition on environmental grounds.
The Woodhouse Colliery in Whitehaven will produce about 2.8 million tonnes of coking coal a yr, for use by the metal trade within the UK and past, based on the developer West Cumbria Mining.
But it has confronted fierce opposition from scientists and environmental campaigners, who argue the UK needs to be investing in inexperienced metal applied sciences somewhat than supporting a brand new fossil gasoline scheme.
Why has the federal government accepted the mine?
The authorities has been below stress from native conservative MPs to approve the mine for years, with supporters arguing it would carry round 500 much-needed jobs to the native space. But it shied away from making the choice whereas the UK was main international local weather talks, a job that formally ended final month.
After months of delay, Michael Gove, the secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, lastly granted approval for the mine on 7 December, explaining he was happy the undertaking would “have an overall neutral effect on climate change” . That is regardless of evaluation suggesting the scheme would produce an estimated 400,000 tonnes of greenhouse gasoline emissions a yr.
Can it actually be web zero emissions?
The mine builders, West Cumbria Mining, have stated “the mine seeks to be net zero in its operations”, which it would obtain by minimising emissions and buying offsets. But it has solely accounted for a tiny fraction of all the emissions that will likely be generated as soon as the coal is lifted from the bottom, the Climate Change Committee’s chair Lord Deben instructed the BBC. “They don’t count the burning of the coal,” he stated. “We have no way of ensuring that is net zero.”
Does the UK want extra coking coal?
The UK produces round 7.4 million tonnes of metal yearly utilizing coking coal, primarily from two corporations: British Steel and Tata. British Steel has stated it won’t use coal from the Cumbria undertaking as a result of its sulphur content material will likely be too excessive, whereas Tata has stated it might use some coal from the mine however finally plans to shift to greener manufacturing strategies over the following decade.
In reality, it’s estimated that solely between 10 and 20 per cent of the coal extracted from Woodhouse Colliery will likely be used for steelmaking within the UK.
The relaxation will likely be exported overseas – and possibly to not international locations in Europe, the place steelmakers are dealing with related pressures to chop the carbon footprint of their operations. On the continent, steelmakers are more and more investing in non-fossil methods of creating metal, equivalent to through the use of hydrogen or electrical furnaces. In Sweden, for instance, Hybrit is manufacturing metal constructed from “green” hydrogen, which is generated utilizing renewable electrical energy.
Will it have a fabric affect on emissions?
The authorities argues the proposed improvement “will have a broadly neutral effect on the global release of greenhouse gas emissions from coal used in steel making”. In reality, the Committee on Climate Change stated the mine would enhance UK carbon dioxide emissions by 400,000 tonnes a yr, and as soon as the emissions from burning the coal extracted are taken under consideration, 220 million tonnes of CO2 equal over the course of its 25-year lifetime.
It is true that this can be a drop within the ocean in comparison with the metal trade’s total emissions, which account for round 8 per cent of worldwide emissions.
But even when the emissions from the mine itself are marginal, many local weather specialists are anxious that by approving the mine, the UK authorities has undermined its worldwide credibility as a local weather chief.
As host of COP26 in Glasgow final yr, the UK referred to as for international locations to “consign coal to history” and lobbied nations to decide to phase-out plans for the fossil gasoline. Approving a brand new coal mine on dwelling soil will likely be seen as hypocrisy, say researchers, and should embolden different nations to increase the lifetime of their very own coal industries.
“Developing countries such as India will view this decision as extremely hypocritical, and this move will do a disservice to the UK’s history of pushing out coal from its power system,” stated Sugandha Srivastav on the University of Oxford in a press release.
Paul Elkins at University College London stated the approval “trashes the UK’s reputation as a global leader on climate action and opens it up to well justified charges of hypocrisy – telling other countries to ditch coal while not doing so itself.”
Can the mine be stopped?
Despite successful planning approval from the federal government, some local weather specialists doubt the mine will ever grow to be operational.
There will virtually definitely be a authorized problem launched towards this week’s resolution, with NGOs and legislation companies like Client Earth actively scrutinising the choice for potential grounds for enchantment, New Scientist understands.
A normal election may additionally scupper the mine’s prospects. The Liberal Democrats and Labour are each against its improvement, with Labour’s shadow local weather and web zero secretary Ed Miliband saying the choice exhibits the federal government is “giving up on all pretence of climate leadership”. A Labour win within the subsequent normal election may cease the mine earlier than operations ever get underway.
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