The United Kingdom became the first G7 nation to end its reliance on coal-generated power as it closed its last coal plant this week.
The Ratcliffe-on-Soar station, in Nottinghamshire, closed on Monday after producing enough energy to power 2 million homes since 1967.
The closure of the 2,000-megawatt power plant marks a major step for the U.K. in its effort to meet climate goals of net-zero emissions by 2050 and decarbonizing its grid by 2030.
Britain first began efforts to close all coal-powered plants in 2015. The country originally set a goal for 2025, but former Prime Minister Boris Johnson pushed the deadline up one year to show leadership in curbing climate change ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2021.
The U.K. heavily relied on coal for decades, with the power source supplying around 80% of the country’s electricity in 1990. By 2023, that had decreased to just 1%. Instead, nearly 35% of its energy came from gas, and 33% came from wind and solar. Another 12% was powered by bioenergy, and 14% through nuclear energy.
The Ratcliffe-on-Soar facility, which was operated by power company Uniper, will take around two years to be fully decommissioned, according to Reuters.
“This is absolutely a key milestone in delivering that, and we shouldn’t underestimate how important this is,” Uniper CEO Michael Lewis said. “It’s the first time in 142 years that there will be no coal on the U.K. energy system.”
Prior to closing, the coal plant employed around 170 people. Some of the employees plan on helping decommission the plant, while others are retired or taking a voluntary redundancy, Reuters reported.
To achieve the U.K.’s climate targets further, Uniper said the site of the coal plant will be converted into a “low-carbon energy hub.”
“There are various options to develop the site around advanced manufacturing and low carbon energy and storage,” Lewis said, adding that the company is looking at “whatever’s possible.”
The final coal plant closure in the U.K. comes just months after energy leaders within the G7 agreed to end the use of coal in the first half of the next decade, which is in line with goals set by President Joe Biden and his administration.
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In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency issued rules in April requiring coal-powered plants to capture 90% of their carbon pollution or shut down by 2039. Department officials have estimated that the move would cut down on 1.38 billion metric tons of climate pollution through 2047.
Attorneys general from over two dozen states have since challenged the EPA, saying the rule was an “abuse of discretion” and out of accordance with the law.