Policy Exploration
CLIMATE PROJECT / LESSON 5.3OPENER POLICY EXPLORATIONUnless otherwise noted, this work is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Credit: “Policy Exploration”, OER Project, www.oerproject.com/PurposeExplore information on one key policy to understand how it’s been successful, and why policy is so important when it comes to decarbonization.Process1.Read the excerpt below.Britain ditched coal. Here’s what the world can learn from it.Adapted from an article by Niko Kommenda and Harry StevensThe Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2024/uk-coal-power-exit/October 4, 2024Thelast operating coal power plantin Britain closedthis week, ending more than 140 years of coal-fired electricity and proving that major economies can wean themselves off the dirtiest fossil fuel.Although market forces—first competition from cheap natural gas and later from cheaper renewables—helped Britain phase out coal, experts say government policy played a major part.“The United Kingdom demonstrated that with the right policies, it’s possible to transition away from coal power while maintaining the reliability of the electricity system,” said Jennifer Morris, a principal research scientist at the MIT Energy Initiative.The European Union created a cap-and-trade regime in 2005, when Britain was still a member, but that policy was not very effective because the price of carbon was too low, Morris said. But in 2013, the country set a higher carbon price, forcing many coal plants to close.Even as political power shifted between the Labour and Conservative parties, Britain pressed ahead with policies to promote clean energy. It set legally binding greenhouse gas emissions targets, regulated air pollution, and encouraged the expansion of renewable energy by introducing a system to ensure wind and solar developers could sell power at a stable, profitable price.The transition away from coal has been slower in the United States than in Britain. Although the United States has adopted some similar policies, including pollution controls and incentives for renewable developers, U.S. policy has fluctuated more dramatically as party control of Congress and the White House has alternated between Republicans and Democrats.Althougha quarter of U.S. coal capacityis set to retire by 2029, “it will take dedicated policies to phase out the remaining coal plants,” Morris said.
CLIMATE PROJECT / LESSON 5.3OPENER POLICY EXPLORATION2.Answer the following questions based on the excerpt:•Why do you think it’s newsworthy that the last operating coal plant in Britain has closed? •What obstacles did the country face during the transition away from coal? •What was the role of policy in transitioning away from coal in Britain? •What is one strategy that other countries could learn from looking at how Britain handled the transition?