The UK will become the first G7 country to phase out coal-fired power after closing its last power plant

London: Britain will become the first G7 country to end coal-fired electricity production on Monday with the closure of its last power station, Uniper’s Ratcliffe-on-Soar in England’s Midlands.

This will end over 140 years of coal power in the UK.

In 2015, the UK announced plans to close coal-fired power stations over the next decade as part of wider efforts to meet climate targets. At the time, nearly 30 percent of the country’s electricity came from coal, but that dropped to just over 1 percent last year.

“The UK has proven that it is possible to phase out coal power at an unprecedented pace,” said Julia Skorupska, head of the secretariat of the Powering Past Coal Alliance, a group of about 60 national governments seeking to end coal power.

The decline in the use of coal-fired power has helped reduce the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, which have more than halved since 1990.

The UK, which aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, also plans to decarbonise its electricity sector by 2030, which will require a rapid increase in the share of renewable energy such as wind and solar.

“The era of coal may be ending, but a new era of good energy jobs for our country is just beginning,” Energy Secretary Michael Shanks said in an emailed statement.

Emissions from energy account for about three-quarters of total greenhouse gas emissions, and scientists say the use of fossil fuels must be reduced to meet the goals set out in the Paris climate agreement.

In April, major G7 industrial countries agreed to phase out coal-fired power in the first half of the next decade, but also gave some leeway to economies heavily dependent on coal, drawing criticism from green groups.

“There is much work to be done to ensure the 2035 target is met and moved to 2030, particularly in Japan, the US and Germany,” said Christine Shearer, research analyst at Global Energy Monitor.

Coal power still accounts for more than 25 percent of Germany’s electricity and more than 30 percent of Japan’s energy.