LONDON: Britain announced on Thursday (November 14) that it will introduce legislation to ban new coal mines as the Labor government accelerates plans to make Britain a clean energy leader.

The government said it would announce new legislation “as soon as possible” that would restrict future licensing of new coal mines, which it described as an “important step” in the fight against climate change.

It follows the closure of the UK’s last coal-fired power station, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, in October, making the UK the first G7 nation to end its dependence on fossil fuels for electricity.

In a landmark ruling in September, British courts overturned permission granted by the previous Conservative government to a project in Whitehaven, Cumbria, that would have been the country’s first new coal mine for 30 years.

It would extract only metallurgical coal used in steel production.

Energy minister Michael Shanks said in a statement that “making coal power a thing of the past” would “pave the way for a clean, safe energy system that will protect ratepayers and create a new generation of skilled workers.”

Coal produced around 40 per cent of the UK’s electricity supply in 2012, but today it has reached zero per cent, the government said in a statement.

Labor won the July general election by promising to be more ambitious on policies to meet the UK’s climate change commitments and to decarbonise its electricity grid by 2030, among other things.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Baku, Azerbaijan on Tuesday United Nations climate change summitHe said the UK would aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 81 per cent from 1990 levels by 2035 as part of the government’s plans to reach net zero by 2050.

The centre-left government also ended an influential Conservative Party ban on new onshore wind projects and ended new oil and gas exploration licenses in the North Sea.