Current:Home > InvestUK Carbon Emissions Fall to 19th Century Levels as Government Phases Out Coal -Streamline Finance
UK Carbon Emissions Fall to 19th Century Levels as Government Phases Out Coal
View
Date:2025-04-13 00:54:35
Carbon dioxide emissions in the United Kingdom declined by 6 percent in 2016 thanks to a record 52 percent drop in coal use, according to a report published Friday by the London-based climate policy website Carbon Brief.
Coal suffered at the hands of cheap natural gas, plentiful renewables, energy conservation and a stiff tax on greenhouse gas emissions, the group said.
The latest reductions put the country’s carbon dioxide emissions 36 percent below 1990 levels. The UK hasn’t seen emissions so low since the late 19th century, when coal was king in British households and industry. Coal emissions have fallen 74 percent since 2006.
The dramatic cuts reflect ambitious efforts by the UK in recent years to tackle climate change. In Nov. 2015 the country announced it would phase out all coal-powered electricity plants by 2025. But in the past year, cheaper renewables flooded the market, pushing coal aside. Last May, the country for the first time generated more electricity from solar power than from coal, with coal emissions falling to zero for several days. In 2016 as a whole, wind power also generated more electricity than coal.
The broad fall in carbon dioxide emissions in 2016 came despite a 12.5 percent increase in pollution from burning natural gas, which competes both with coal and with renewables, and a 1.6 percent increase from oil and gasoline use, according to Carbon Brief.
Carbon Brief also attributes the precipitous drop in emissions from coal to the country’s carbon tax, which doubled in 2015 to £18 ($22) per metric ton of CO2.
The tax has been “the killer blow for coal in the past 18 months to two years,” Peter Atherton of the Cornwall Energy consultancy told the Financial Times. “It’s really changed the economics for it.”
Some question whether the UK will continue ambitious measures to rein in greenhouse gases and other pollutants after its voters decided to exit the European Union. A leaked European Parliament document, however, suggests the EU will seek to hold the UK to previously agreed environmental targets.
The Carbon Brief analysis of emissions is based on energy use figures from the UK’s Department of Energy, Business and Industrial Strategy. The department will publish its own CO2 estimates on March 30.
veryGood! (43695)
Related
- Jury finds man guilty of sending 17-year-old son to rob and kill rapper PnB Rock
- Feast your eyes on Taiwan's distinct food (and understand a history of colonization)
- Normani (finally) announces long-awaited debut solo album 'Dopamine'
- Minnesota man suspected in slaying of Los Angeles woman found inside her refrigerator
- A steeplechase record at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Then a proposal. (He said yes.)
- China plans to send San Diego Zoo more pandas this year, reigniting its panda diplomacy
- 7 people hospitalized after fire in Chicago high-rise building
- How to watch Dodgers vs. Padres MLB spring training opener: Time, TV channel
- Connie Chiume, South African 'Black Panther' actress, dies at 72
- One Year Later, Pennsylvanians Living Near the East Palestine Train Derailment Site Say They’re Still Sick
Ranking
- Messi injury update: Ankle 'better every day' but Inter Miami star yet to play Leagues Cup
- Horoscopes Today, February 21, 2024
- LA ethics panel rejects proposed fine for ex-CBS exec Les Moonves over police probe interference
- IRS says it has a new focus for its audits: Private jet use
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- This moment at the Super Bowl 'thrilled' Jeff Goldblum: 'I was eating it up'
- They came to clinics in Mexico for cosmetic surgery and got a deadly fungal meningitis
- United flight diverted to Chicago due to reported bomb threat
Recommendation
Behind on your annual reading goal? Books under 200 pages to read before 2024 ends
Video shows Texas Girl Scout troop being robbed while selling cookies at Walmart
Robert Port, who led AP investigative team that won Pulitzer for No Gun Ri massacre probe, dies
Porsha Williams Shares Athleisure You'll Love if You Enjoy Working Out or Just Want To Look Like You Do
Illinois governor calls for resignation of sheriff whose deputy fatally shot Black woman in her home
These Cute & Comfy Disney Park Outfits Are So Magical, You'll Never Want To Take Them Off
Dozens of Idaho obstetricians have stopped practicing there since abortions were banned, study says
Behold, the Chizza: A new pizza-inspired fried chicken menu item is debuting at KFC