We advocate for policy that secures the managed phase out of coal from UK industries, and end the UK's support for global coal extraction and use. Westminster has devolved some powers to Scotland and Wales, which means we work with the Welsh, Scottish, and UK parliaments to secure the policies we need to lock out coal. This is essential to protect our global climate, and discourage a swing back to coal in response to geopolitical events.
We've been engaging with the Welsh Government and Senedd on strengthening its coal policies. Once it was ahead of the UK and Scottish Governments, but now it is increasingly being left behind.
After we secured a manifesto commitment from the Labour Party ahead of the 2025 UK election, we are now engaging with the UK Government to deliver a comprehensive ban on coal mining.
We inputted to the Scottish Government ahead of its planning consultation, contributing to its de facto coal mining ban.
The Scottish government has stated that the “era of coal is over”. Lorna Slater, Co-leader of the Scottish Greens, announced the preferred position against coal mining, for all types of coal. This is essentially a ban on coal mining in Scotland, similar to the one on fracking.
oth Wales and Scotland has a long legacy of suffering the localised impacts of environmental blight and hazardous conditions of coal mining, with nearby communities rarely seeing a significant share of the economic benefits. Wales is still littered with unrestored or poorly restored coal mines. It was reported that only this year are…
We are concerned that the 2024 coal phase-out date is being used by the UK Government to deflect criticism for its support of using coal up until that date, when what we need is the most rapid phase-out of coal that is possible as the UK careers further from its climate targets…