Coal Action Network

Coal Action Network campaigns against opencast coal mines in the UK. We work with the communities who wish to protect their health and natural spaces and to end coal's major contribution to climate change.

Coal Action Network pursues a Just Transition away from unsustainable fuels and acts in solidarity with communities fighting mines in other countries which supply the UK's remaining coal fired power stations.

New Campaign Campaigns

  • Stop the Cumbria Coal Mine!
    ***New coal mines = climate crisis*** This mine will create 9 million tonnes of CO2 every year through coal burned in UK and European steelworks.That's three times what all the people of Cumbria produce every year [1]. It's 2% of the UK's carbon footprint, which makes it a decision of national importance. Top economists and energy experts agree that this mine cannot be 'carbon neutral' as Cumbria County Council claim, instead it will worsen the climate crisis. [2] ***Breaking the law*** The Heathrow judgement showed that the Paris Agreement [3] must be taken into account in decisions about new high-carbon projects, which is why Robert Jenrick must step in. The UK will host the UN climate summit COP26 in 2021, so starting a mega-polluting coal mine would undermine these vital talks ***No more coal for steel*** The UK's two steelworks are the biggest single-site emitters in the country[4] because of their current reliance on coal, but you can make steel without coal. The mine will lock the steel industry in the UK and Europe into using coal for decades to come, instead of switching to viable alternatives, when instead a transition to clean steel could begin right now.[5] ***The impacts on Cumbria*** The impacts of climate change fall first and hardest on communities in the global south, who are already being impacted. But Cumbria itself is also vulnerable to increasing sea level rise and flooding, which are predicted to get more severe if we don't keep global temperatures under 1.5 degrees [6]. The economic impact of the jobs the mine would provide would be far outweighed by climate impacts on the local economy. [7] As Communities Secretary, it's Robert Jenrick's job to refuse permission to projects that are harmful to communities and that conflict with the UK's international commitments on climate change. It's his job to promote alternatives that would be better for communities. We need a Green Recovery that invests in our futures, instead of being forced to rely on polluting projects for jobs. THANK YOU Learn more about the local groups leading the fight to stop this mega-polluting project: https://www.coalaction.org.uk/2020/09/07/campaigns-to-stop-woodhouse-colliery-cumbria/ REFERENCES [1] Small World Consulting: A Carbon Baseline for Cumbria https://slacc.org.uk/cumbria-carbon-baseline/ [2] UCL: Top Economists & Energy Experts claim Ministers mislead over coal & climate https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/sustainable/news/2020/sep/coal-and-climate-ministers-need-reject-misinformation-new-coal-mines [3] Heathrow Third Runway Ruled Illeagal Over Climate Change https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/27/heathrow-third-runway-ruled-illegal-over-climate-change [4] EU ETS Emissions 2019 https://ember-climate.org/project/ets-2019-release/ [5] Materials Processing Institute Report Coal & Steel June 2020 https://slacc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/SLACC_Appendix-2_MPI-Report_11-06-2020.pdf [6] Areas in Cumbria that could end up underwater due to global warming https://www.lancs.live/news/local-news/areas-cumbria-could-end-up-18256314 [7] Presentation by Duncan Pollard on WCM https://slacc.org.uk/new-presentation-by-duncan-pollard-on-wcm/
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  • End opencast coal for good
    Opencast coal extraction is a reckless and dirty industry that is fuelling climate change while hurting communities in the UK and abroad to fuel UK power stations. Over the next few weeks, the UK government faces a choice: it can let this dirty industry get bigger, or it can end opencast coal extraction for good, honouring it’s promise of a 2025 coal phase-out to the British people, saving communities and protecting the climate. Right now, the government is considering whether to allow two opencast coal mines in the North of England 1. Bradley in Pont Valley, which is already destroying the countryside, and 2. Druridge Bay, which threatens a pristine stretch of coastline. Both mines are being pursued by Banks Group; the only company in the UK pushing for the expansion of coal extraction. They have already extended their operation at Shotton, Northumberland and are undertaking a scoping inquiry into a new one at Dewley Hill, near Throckley, Newcastle. Together these four projects would extract over 6.5 million tonnes of coal and release around 13 million tonnes of Co2 . There’s no time to lose - at the Bradley mine in Pont Valley, each day that goes by means more coal being burned and more countryside being lost. The government is due to make a decision on both Bradley and Druridge Bay in the next few weeks. Banks Groups lawyers and lobbyists are putting forward their arguments in favour of their damaging projects. Let’s make sure we get heard too. Sign our petition to make sure that the government makes the right decision and ends opencast coal mining for good.
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  • No new opencast coal mines in Durham, UK.
    No new opencast coal mines have started in England since 2013. Since then the Government has said that it will phase-out coal by 2025. It's vital that we prevent a new mine starting which would cause local and international environmental destruction and which the local community have clearly rejected. Bradley is a greenfield site in County Durham between the villages of Dipton and Leadgate. The site supports a wealth of plants and animals, including Great Crested Newts, badgers, red kites. Banks Group plan to mine 550,000 tonnes of coal from the site, starting work this spring. The Bradley opencast mine is a case where the original decision to grant planning was grossly wrong and the development is likely to damage the wider public interest. Since the planning permission was granted in June 2015 there have been significant changes in national and international policy with regards to coal and climate change. 1) Coal use in the UK has dropped to 7% of the UK’s energy mix compared with 30% in 2014. 2) The government has said it will phase-out coal by 2025. 3) The UK and Canadian governments want to be world leaders with their Powering Past Coal Alliance. 4) The Paris Agreement requires that action is taken to prevent global temperatures from raising by 2 degrees and pursue efforts to keep them from a 1.5 degree raise. Thomas Davison, 28-year-old a resident living 300 metres away from the proposed opencast site said; “Banks' desire to extract 550,000 tonnes of coal is driven by nothing more than profit and not at all by a genuine need for energy. We have moved onto other forms of cleaner energy for the good of our global climate. So why is it worth harming the local wildlife and the local economy for one last money grab?”
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