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Coal: going, going, gone?

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It's been a long, difficult and wild ride at times, but an end to climate damaging carbon emissions from new coal power stations could be in sight at last. Finally, some politicians seem to have recognised that we can't cut our CO2 emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 AND keep pumping the stuff out of our power plants - hooray!

Last December the government announced a new energy bill that explicitly recognises this reality. So far so good - but (as you'll be shocked to discover) there's a problem. As yet the bill has no teeth - whilst it says that new power stations must be able to capture some of their emissions from the get go, it contains no guarantee that by 2025 all carbon emissions from coal must be captured, and that's the bit that really counts.

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More questions than answers from the government's coal policy

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With Kingsnorth on hold, what's the future for coal in the UK?

National policy statements sound cool. They sound like they might actually sort stuff out. Instead of scrabbling around doing little bits of policy here and there, like some sort of policy tapas, a national policy statement means you're going for the policy hog roast - go on, have a big national slab of policy sir, there you go.

But no matter what you might have heard in the news, today's key announcement was about coal. If we're talking about climate change, we're talking about coal. Coal is responsible for over half the human-made carbon emissions in the atmosphere. If we, as a planet, carry on building new coal powered plants, we're all in a lot of trouble. That's why we spend so much time campaigning against new dirty coal plants - or ‘unabated' coal plants as they're known.

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Case for coal crumbles as Kingsnorth is shelved

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How do you measure success? Many times, it’s difficult to point to one specific moment when a campaign delivers a big moment that demonstrates, beyond any doubt, that you've succeeded.

Well, our thanks go to E.ON for providing that moment for our coal campaign late last night – just as we were leaving the office, in fact. On my way to the pub, I met a press officer running back towards the front door – "E.ON have shelved Kingsnorth – just got to go and check if it's real, see you in a few…"

He never made it to the pub, because as the evening unfolded it became clear that E.ON were, indeed, after a three year public campaign, kicking their plans for the massively controversial coal plant into the long grass – which would have been the first to be built in Britain since Drax was completed more than 20 years ago.

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E.ON reveals Kingsnorth kicked into long grass

8 Oct 2009

The controversial proposal to build a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent has been thrown into doubt tonight. An email from German utility giant E.ON to Greenpeace reveals the company no longer thinks construction is currently economic. The email reveals the company is shelving the project for 2-3 years at least.

Kingsnorth attracted huge controversy, with protests over several years including a high-profile Climate Camp. Six Greenpeace protesters who climbed the smokestack at the plant were later acquitted in a high-profile case after the jury accepted the plant posed a greater threat than the activities of the activists.

Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said:

"This development is extremely good news for the climate and in a stroke significantly reduces the chances of an unabated Kingsnorth plant ever being built. The case for new coal is crumbling, with even E.ON now accepting it's not currently economic to build new plants. The huge diverse coalition of people who have campaigned against Kingsnorth because of the threat it posed to the climate should take heart that emissions from new coal are now even less likely in Britain."

He added:

"Ed Miliband now has a golden opportunity to rule out all emissions from new coal as a sign of Britain's leadership before the key Copenhagen climate meeting. With E.ON's announcement he's now got an open goal."

ENDS

Greenpeace press office - 07801 212967

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A big week for the Big If

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Ed Miliband at the anti-coal vigil outside DECC © Joseph Cabon /Christian Aid

Since the close of the coal consultation last week, many Greenpeace supporters who've signed up to the Big If have been getting busy. Firstly, in Doncaster on Saturday, members of our Yorkshire network showed up to Ed Miliband's constituency surgery in Bentley, in Doncaster. They built a giant 'Big If' out of cardboard boxes right outside the door.

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Video: saying NO to dirty coal

Since the Big If pledge launched in March, when Age of Stupid actor Pete Postletwaite promised the UK Energy and Climate Change minister Ed Miliband that he would return his OBE if the government gave the go-ahead for a new coal power station Kingsnorth, thousands of people have joined him in making pledges of their own.

Greenpeace UK has been a core member of the Big If coalition from the start, together with a wide range of other organisations including the RSPB, World Development Movement, Oxfam and the Women's Institute. Because if Kingsnorth and the other 10 plants planned to follow it get built, then we'll have next to no chance of meeting our CO2 reduction targets and reining in runaway climate change.

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Say NO to dirty coal - join the Big If

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Video: Mili-band at Kingsnorth power station

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This kind of thing should be (Mili)band

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They came, they stood, they formed a giant human chain around Kingsnorth. The Miliband was formed with bodies and yellow sashes, and made up of over a thousand people! Read more »
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The Mili-band Live!

Today we're down at Kingsnorth for the Mili-band - building a human chain around Kingsnorth to say no to dirty coal. Read more »

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