World Development Movement hails Kingsnorth victory for people and campaigners from developing world and Kent.

Late last night, EON confirmed that they had shelved plans for the controversial Kingsnorth coal plant in Kent. The news of the victory for the 'Stop Kingsnorth' campaigners was received by text at a coal event in Rochester hosted jointly by the World Development Movement and the local campaigning group, Kingsnorth Climate Action Medway, who have been working closely for nearly two years.

Kirsty Wright, climate campaigner at the World Development Movement said:"This is an huge victory for campaigners in Kent, across the UK and most of all for the world’s poorest people, whose lives would have been devastated by the proposed power station’s contribution to climate change. The new power station would have emitted more CO2than Tanzania, and could have caused 20,000 climate refugees and meant that 100, 000 more people losing their dry water season supply.

"It's not yet clear what the government's official reaction to this news will be, but UK's already massive climate debt to the developing world means that the UK must radically reduce its carbon emissions now. The UK government must rule out new coal in the UK straight away, ahead of crucial international talks at Copenhagen. We can’t rely on energy companies to do it because of concern about profits in the recession. This is about people not profits.

"The Kingsnorth issue has been an embarrassment for the UK government's claim to be a leader on tackling climate change. Ed Miliband must now focus on investment in renewable energy and abandon plans for new coal power in the UK.”

Liz Murray, head of campaigns at the World Development Movement Scotland said:"The fact that E.ON is postponing its plans for the new coal power plant at Kingsnorth should ring alarm bells for the Scottish Government and Danish energy company DONG, which is planning to invest in a similar sized coal plant at Hunterston in Ayrshire. In the knowledge that its world-leading climate legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 42% by 2020 will mean a continuing drop in demand for carbon intensive energy, the Scottish Government should call a halt to the Hunterston proposal now and focus on renewable electricity instead.”

The World Development Movement released a catalogue of shocking statistics that show the devastating human impact that carbon emissions from a new Kingsnorth plant alone could have on people in the developing world because of its contribution to climate change, the figures included:

• 100,000 more people losing their dry season water supply
• Up to 300 more people dying every year due to malnutrition
• Up to 60,000 more people suffering from drought in Africa
• 50,000 more people going hungry due to drought and lower crop yields
• Up to 40,000 more people exposed to malaria
• 20,000 people being forced our of their homes and becoming climate refugees
• Around 30,000 more people losing their homes every year due to coastal flooding