UK to stop burning coal by 2025

BBC : In a speech delivered earlier today, UK energy secretary Amber Rudd said that by 2023 the UK will start cutting back on the burning of coal to generate electricity, and it will close all its coal-burning facilities by 2025. She pointed out that a higher proportion of the UK’s electricity came from coal in 2014 than in 1999 and that, because coal is such a polluting, carbon-intensive fuel, the nation must start building a new energy infrastructure, including nuclear, gas, and offshore wind projects. The speech comes just before the United Nations summit on climate change to be held in Paris starting 30 November. Although the coal announcement pleased environmentalists, they objected to the new emphasis on gas and said renewable energy sources such as solar and wind are the cleanest and, in the long run, cheapest forms of energy.