The proposed new Woodhouse Colliery in
Cumbria [1] is not compatible with UK
climate targets [2] and will hold back the
development of low carbon steelmaking, says a new report by think
tank Green Alliance.[3] It also refutes Cumbria
County Council’s claim that the mine will be “carbon
neutral”. [4]
Coal from the mine is intended for steelmaking, which would
produce 8.4 million tonnes per year of CO2 per
year, equivalent to the emissions from over a million
households.
The UK has set a target to reach net zero carbon emissions
by 2050, and has committed to switch to lower carbon steel
production, announcing a Clean Steel Fund in August 2019. The
proposed Cumbria mine will jeopardise these ambitions.
The report outlines four ways the steel industry should be
cutting carbon: using less steel; using recycled steel; improving
the efficiency of steel production with conventional blast
furnaces; and producing steel with new processes using renewable
energy.
But opening a new coal mine at this point will hinder this
strategy by ensuring the continued availability of cheap
coal.
Professor Rebecca Willis, one of the authors of the
briefing, said:
“The proposed mine is clearly incompatible with the UK’s
climate ambitions and the need for a clean energy future. The new
government has championed its commitment to climate action. It
now needs to set out its policy on fossil fuel extraction, making
clear that digging more coal out of the ground is no longer
acceptable.”
Co-author Professor Mike Berners-Lee
said:
“Cumbria’s politicians understandably want to see new jobs
on the West Coast. But we estimate that the profits from the mine
would leave the local area, with only three per cent of the
turnover spent on salaries. We urgently need an active, low
carbon industrial strategy for Cumbria and other local areas, to
generate thousands of green jobs rather than hundreds of coal
jobs.”
Dustin Benton, Green Alliance’s policy director,
said:
“Clean energy has already made coal obsolete in the power
sector. Our previous work shows that UK demand for coking coal
would halve if steel producers opted for cheaper, cleaner steel
production using today’s technologies. In addition, innovation in
zero carbon steel production means this mine will likely become
redundant in the near future, saddling Cumbria with an expensive
stranded asset.”
ENDS
Notes
[1] Woodhouse Colliery is a proposed coal mine near
Whitehaven in Cumbria. The proposal, by West Cumbria Mining, is
for the first deep coal mine in England since 1987. In March
2019, Cumbria County Council granted planning permission for the
mine. The company’s plan is to commence
construction in spring 2020, with coal production starting in
2022.
[2] In June 2019, the UK became the first major economy in
the world to pass laws to end its contribution to global warming
by 2050. The target requires the UK to bring all greenhouse gas
emissions to net zero by 2050, compared with the previous target
of at least 80 per cent reduction from 1990 levels.
[3] The
case against new coal mines in the UK, by Professor
Rebecca Willis, Mike Berners-Lee, Rosie Watson and Mike Elm. A
policy insight published by Green Alliance, January 2020.
Green Alliance is an independent think tank and charity
focused on ambitious leadership for the environment. Since 1979,
we have been working with the most influential leaders in
business, NGOs and politics to accelerate political action
and
create transformative policy for a green and prosperous
UK.
[4] Agenda Item 14, 31 October 2019, Cumbria County Council
Development Control and Regulation Committee, paragraph
4.3
