What will be the climate impact of a new coal mine in the UK?

By Madeleine Cuff

The UK is ready to get its first new deep coal mine in three many years after the federal government accredited plans for a venture 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 business within the UK and past, based on the developer, West Cumbria Mining.

However the venture has confronted fierce opposition from scientists and environmental campaigners, who argue the UK ought to be investing in inexperienced metal applied sciences quite than supporting a brand new fossil gasoline scheme.

Why has the federal government accredited the mine?

It has been beneath strain from native Conservative MPs to permit the mine for years, with supporters arguing it’ll carry round 500 much-needed jobs to the world. But it surely 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 venture would “have an general impartial impact on local weather change”. That’s regardless of evaluation suggesting the scheme would produce an estimated 400,000 tonnes of greenhouse gasoline emissions a yr.

Can the mine actually be net-zero emissions?

West Cumbria Mining has stated “the mine seeks to be internet zero in its operations”, which it’ll obtain by minimising emissions from manufacturing of the coal and by buying carbon offsets. But it surely has solely accounted for a tiny fraction of the complete emissions that might be generated as soon as the coal is lifted from the bottom, Lord Deben, the chair of the Local weather Change Committee (CCC), advised the BBC. “They don’t rely the burning of the coal,” he stated. “We’ve got no means of making certain that’s internet zero.” The CCC is the federal government’s impartial local weather adviser.

Does the UK want extra coking coal?

The UK produces round 7.4 million tonnes of metal yearly utilizing coking coal, primarily from two firms: British Metal and Tata. British Metal has stated it is not going to use coal from the Cumbria venture as a result of its sulphur content material might 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 truth, it’s estimated that solely between 10 and 20 per cent of the coal extracted from Woodhouse Colliery might be used for steelmaking within the UK.

The remainder might be exported – and doubtless to not different nations 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 constructing metal, akin to through the use of hydrogen or electrical furnaces. In Sweden, for instance, Hybrit is manufacturing metal made utilizing “inexperienced” hydrogen, which is generated utilizing renewable electrical energy.

Will the mine have a fabric influence on emissions?

The federal government argues the proposed improvement “can have a broadly impartial impact on the worldwide launch of greenhouse gasoline emissions from coal utilized in metal making”. In truth, the CCC stated the mine would improve UK carbon dioxide emissions by 400,000 tonnes a yr, and as soon as the emissions from burning the extracted coal are taken under consideration, the equal to 220 million tonnes of CO2 might be emitted over the course of its 25-year life.

It’s true that it is a drop within the ocean in contrast with the metal business’s general emissions, which account for round 8 per cent of worldwide emissions.

However even when the emissions from the mine itself are marginal, many local weather specialists are frightened that by approving this, the UK authorities has undermined its worldwide credibility as a local weather chief.

As host of COP26 in Glasgow final yr, the UK known as for nations to “consign coal to historical past” and lobbied nations to decide to phase-out plans for the fossil gasoline. Approving a brand new coal mine on house soil might be seen as hypocrisy, say researchers, and should embolden different nations to increase the lifetime of their very own coal industries.

“Creating nations akin to India will view this determination as extraordinarily hypocritical, and this transfer will do a disservice to the UK’s historical past of pushing out coal from its energy system,” stated Sugandha Srivastav on the College of Oxford in an announcement.

Paul Elkins at College School London stated the approval “trashes the UK’s status as a worldwide chief on local weather motion and opens it as much as well-justified fees of hypocrisy – telling different nations to ditch coal whereas not doing so itself”.

Can the mine be stopped?

Regardless of successful planning approval from the federal government, some local weather specialists doubt the mine will ever grow to be operational.

There’ll nearly actually be a authorized problem towards this week’s determination, with NGOs and legislation teams like ClientEarth actively scrutinising the choice for potential grounds for attraction, New Scientist understands.

A basic election might additionally scupper the mine’s prospects. The Liberal Democrats and Labour are each against its improvement, with Labour’s shadow climate and net zero secretary Ed Miliband saying the choice reveals the federal government is “giving up on all pretence of local weather management”. A Labour win within the subsequent basic election might cease the mine earlier than operations ever get beneath means.

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