The government must reject plans for the UK’s first new deep coal mine since the 1980s, environmental groups have said after a pivotal decision on the project was delayed until after the Cop27 climate summit.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England, Greenpeace, the RSPB and 22 other green organisations told Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, that the postponement sent a “deeply worrying signal”.
“It is surely a missed opportunity for the prime minister not to have been able to announce in front of other world leaders, at Cop27, that this country was ready to double down on its pledges in Glasgow to consign coal to history,” wrote the groups, which also include ClientEarth, The Wildlife Trusts and The Woodland Trust.
The debate over whether to block or support the mooted Woodhouse Colliery near Whitehaven in Cumbria has been running since well before the UK hosted the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow.
The private equity-backed company behind the project, West Cumbria Mining (WCM), wants to produce coking coal for steel-making. However, Lord Deben, the government’s chief climate adviser, has said it would be “absolutely indefensible” on carbon emissions grounds. Critics have also noted British Steel, one of the UK’s two main primary steel makers, has ruled out using the coal due to its sulphur content.