A couple of weeks ago David Cameron, Nick Clegg, and Ed Miliband signed an agreement to work together to tackle climate change. This announcement included an unprecedented pledge to phase out the UK's unabated coal power stations – our number one source of carbon pollution.
This kind of cross-party agreement in the run up to a General Election is both rare and welcome, adding to the momentum built last year by the world's two biggest emitters of carbon, China and the US, when they outlined their own plans to tackle unabated coal plants.
The UK's political leaders now need to tell us when and how they're going to get rid of coal pollution once and for all. We've been arguing that coal power stations need to be off the system by the early 2020s, as recommended by the government's own climate advisors.
And to help make this case, we've teamed up with leading environmental, international development and health organisations to write to Britain's political leaders and warn them that coal pollution risks derailing the UK's climate targets unless they agree on a clear deadline to phase out dirty coal by this time.
Organisations from the RSPB, Oxfam and the Women's Institute to health charity Medact and 350.org have come together to demonstrate the breadth of opposition to the UK's continued dependence on climate wrecking coal plants.
In the letter we warn that we are 'concerned that in the absence of a concrete and credible plan to take unabated coal power stations off the system, they will continue to emit carbon throughout the 2020s and beyond, threatening our efforts to tackle climate change and air pollution.'
And it's not just charities saying this - a YouGov opinion poll published today shows that a majority of British people (56%) would back a move to push unabated coal off the system by the early 2020s as part of efforts to tackle climate change. This includes strong support across the political spectrum, including UKIP voters. Only 24% say they would oppose the move.
A recent study by Imperial College London has shown that, without additional measures to tackle coal use, up to 9 Gigawatt of unabated coal power - equivalent to around half the existing fleet - could still be on the system in 2030. This would leave the UK's chances of meeting its climate change commitments in tatters.
So, while the joint pledge to end dirty coal was a great step forward, for it to have a real impact it needs a clear deadline and concrete policies to make it happen. Our political leaders should be under no illusion that it will simply go away by itself, because research shows this won't be the case. If the UK is to meet its climate targets, we need to consign coal pollution to the dustbin of history by the early 2020s.
