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The US Climate official John Kerry has said he is closely scrutinizing the UK government’s approval of new coal mines over concerns it will increase greenhouse gas emissions and send the wrong signal to developing countries.
Kerry, Joe Biden’s special envoy for climate, said he was taking a keen interest in the mine, the first to go ahead in the UK for 30 years, and would speak out publicly against approval if it was not granted. strict criteria.
“I’m asking my people to give me a better download on what the emissions impacts will be,” he said in an interview Friday evening.
“Coal is not exactly the direction the world is trying to go, or needs to go. What I want to know is the level of decline here. [such as whether the resulting greenhouse gases will be captured and stored] And comparing this particular process in steel production,” he said.
Woodhouse Colliery, near Whitehaven in Cumbria, will produce coking coal for use in steelmaking once operational. The government has said it would be in line with the UK’s target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, partly because it is due to close by the end of 2049, and because emissions from the mine and its coal would be lower than alternatives. such as coal imports.
However, analysis shows that at least 83% of the 2.8m tonnes of coal the mine is likely to produce each year will be exported, as at least two leading British steelmakers will not use it.
Kerry made it clear that continuing and expanding coal use is a serious climate problem, and that the US is taking a strong stand against it internationally.
“We are shutting down coal-fired power stations [in the US], we do not advocate the continued use of coal. Unrelenting fossil-fuel burning is a problem — that’s the problem, the emissions problem,” he said.
He added that he would speak against the development if the US analysis backs up the government’s claims that mining is needed and that coal would be a lower carbon alternative than steelmaking.
Carey’s concern suggests that measures should be taken to capture and store the emissions produced by the mine and when the coal is burned. “If you can’t catch the emissions, that contributes more to the problem,” he said.
Asked whether the UK was sending the wrong signals after US hopes for a strong outcome on emissions reductions at the COP27 UN climate summit last month faded, Kerry said: “It depends on the outcome of the statistical analysis I would like to see. . And I assure you that we will analyze it and share that view. And if we find something, we will say.”
Carey noted that many developing countries had expressed concern about the behavior of developed countries at Cop27. “We already face a challenge with some European countries and elsewhere that are digging or pumping additional fossil fuels in response to Ukraine and energy prices. A lot of people point the finger and say: ‘You people say: “Do as you say, not as you do.”‘ And that’s a challenge in terms of credibility unless you have evidence that he doesn’t have it. kind of effect,” he said.
Climate experts and campaigners around the world have said the new mine proves the government’s “hypocrisy” in promoting climate action by failing to deliver on its promises.
Kerry was in London on Friday night to deliver a Fulbright lecture at King’s College London, in which he urged countries to move faster to cut emissions and said he was “disappointed” that more progress had not been made on the issue at Cop27.
A spokesman for the Department for Leveling Up, Housing and Communities said: “This coal will be used to produce steel and will otherwise need to be imported. The mine seeks to be net zero in its operations and is expected to contribute to local employment and the wider economy.”
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