***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/
