LONDON, Nov. 18 (UPI) — Joining other major world economies, the British government announced plans to phase coal out of its energy portfolio within the next decade.
“It cannot be satisfactory for an advanced economy like the U.K .to be relying on polluting, carbon intensive 50-year-old coal-fired power stations,” British Energy and Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd said in a statement.
Rudd said the government would start restricting the reliance on coal-fired power by 2023 and close all coal-fired power stations by 2025.
A federal plan in the United States calls for a 32 percent reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas, by 2030. State governments under the plan are called on to outline their own agendas. New York’s government was praised for setting a gold standard for environmental stewardship and New York City in late summer called on city pension boards to divest from coal.
For the British economy, Rudd said that, even though the renewable power sector is increasing, coal provided more electricity last year than it did in 1999, showing the nation’s grid lacked the proper balance.
“We are tackling a legacy of underinvestment and ageing power stations which we need to replace with alternatives that are reliable, good value for money, and help to reduce our emissions,” she said.
Simon Bullock, a campaigner with advocacy group Friends of the Earth, was critical of Rudd’s move.
“Rudd is certainly taking U.K. energy policy in a new direction: unfortunately it’s backwards to the 20th century,” he said.
In early July, Rudd’s ministry announced plans to end public subsidies for new onshore wind farms starting in April 2016. Rudd defended the moves by saying the removal of subsidies would keep consumer bills low. The costs for renewable energy projects, meanwhile, were down “significantly” thanks in part to government support.
Comment count on this article reflects comments made on Breitbart.com and Facebook. Visit Breitbart's Facebook Page.