Worldwide, coal is primarily burned in power stations to produce electricity. The UK stopped burning coal to produce electricity in October 2024. The UK continues to use coal in the production of:
Steel at Scunthorpe steelworks
Cement
Bricks
Water filtration substrate
Heritage railways solid fuel
Some rural areas in the UK also rely on coal for household heating but this is reducing.
The use of coal makes these industries carbon-intensive, both in the mining and burning of coal (except in water filtration). Scunthorpe steelworks is the UK's second largest single-site source of CO2. This undermines the UK's emission reduction targets. It's vital that these industries decarbonise by finding coal-alternatives in their industrial processes.
New report from Coal Action Network. Coal in Steel provides background information to campaigns against proposed new coking coal mines and considering how coal needs to be phased out of steel production.
