The UK is about to stop producing any electricity from burning coal - ending its 142-year reliance on the fossil fuel.

The Ratcliffe-on-Soar in central England will close after running since 1967 meaning the country will no longer produce electricity from burning coal.

This marks a major milestone in the country's ambitions to reduce it contributions to climate change and its efforts to generate all of the UK's energy from renewable sources by 2030.

The Minister for Energy, Michael Shanks said the closure of the plant "marks the end of an era and coal workers" and that "we owe generations of a debt of gratitude as a country."

“The era of coal might be ending, but a new age of good energy jobs for our country is just beginning,” he added.

The UK was the home of coal power and will be the first major economy to stop production.

According to figures from the National Grid, around 80% of the country's electricity was powered by coal in 1990 but it began to fall in the following decades to just 1% in 2023.

Today, more than half of the UK's electricity comes from renewable sources.

FTSE 100

The UK's flagship share index, the FTSE 100, was down 75-points, at 8,236, shortly after opening this morning.

Brent crude oil futures were up 0.6%, trading at $71.74 a barrel.

Companies reporting today

Greggs

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