Campaign success in Scotland as the case for new coal continues to crumble

World Development Movement Scotland greeted with delight the news that Danish energy giant Dong Energy has dropped plans to develop a new coal fired power station at Hunterston in Ayrshire, citing financial difficulties and a strategic change of direction towards lower carbon investments.

The remaining investor Peel Holdings appear to want to continue with the project but need a partner who knows something about coal and energy ... and most of those are backing off coal at a rate of knots!

WDM has been campaigning against coal for the last two years. Only last week we welcomed the news that energy giant EON had shelved plans to build a new coal plant at Kingsnorth. Coal is the most polluting way to generate electricity. Globally, it’s a huge contributor to climate change, the effects of which are being felt most acutely by the world’s poorest people.

It’s clearer now more than ever that dirty coal is a risky investment. Energy companies are finding it impossible to justify such climate-trashing developments. Banks that continue to invest heavily in coal – such as Scotland’s RBS – should also beware the writing on the wall, and switch their investments to support renewable energy instead.

WDM will continue to put pressure on investors in coal. Later this month we’ll be taking our campaign to the High Court as we challenge the UK government's decision to ignore environmental and human rights considerations in the Royal Bank of Scotland bail out, by allowing RBS to continue investing our money in climate-trashing projects.

So perhaps we will have more good news to report…