By Abiola Olawale
The United Kingdom on Monday became the first G7 country to end coal-fired power production.
This followed the closure of the country’s last plant, Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station, located near a small village in southern England.
This brings to an end 140 years of reliance on the fossil fuel to generate electricity in Britain.
With this latest development, the U.K. becomes the first G7 country, which consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States, to completely phase out coal as an energy source.
Recall that this journey began in 2015 when Britain announced plans to close coal plants within the next decade as part of wider measures to reach its climate targets.
At that time, almost 30% of the country’s electricity came from coal, but this had fallen to just over 1% last year.
U.K. Energy Minister, Michael Shanks said in a statement on Monday that the closure of the Ratcliffe power station “marks the end of an era, and coal workers can be rightly proud of their work powering our country for over 140 years.”
“The era of coal might be ending, but a new age of good energy jobs for our country is just beginning,” Shanks said.
According to energy experts, coal is considered the single most damaging fossil fuel for the environment as it releases more carbon dioxide than oil or gas, into the environment . Coal is also said to produce mercury, arsenic, and small particles of soot, which contribute to air pollution.
