Thirty five years ago, on this day, July 11st, 1991, the House of Commons Energy Select Committee produces a report calling for – in the light of ‘the greenhouse effect’ – “clean coal.”
Guardian
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Sr3-V4fIY8IZTvM_QIv2DA-dnOAEhjn6/view?usp=drive_link
The Times
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VWimV0nX9i33Ijg6wEl6QkFL6E4Dm8Ez/view?usp=drive_link
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 355ppm. As of 2026, when this post was published, it is 430ppm. This matters because the more carbon dioxide in the air, the more heat gets trapped. The more heat, the more extreme weather events. You can make it more complicated than that if you want, but really, it’s not. Fwiw, I have a tattoo of the Keeling Curve on my left forearm.
The broader context was that the environmental consequences of coal burning were, shall we say, well known, from the 19th century especially (not that 1661 had been a quiet year).
From the mid-1950s onwards, the climate implications had been spoken off here and there, but it was only in the mid-1970s on that this became a common feature of discussions. Various people had done their best to silence the issue (looking at you, John Mason).
The specific context was in 1988 everyone had started to get het up about the Greenhouse Effect (as climate change from carbon dioxide build-up was then called). Panels and committees were established etc etc.
What I think we can learn from this We knew plenty. Clean coal is a joke, at least as far as carbon dioxide is concerned.
What happened next The British coal industry got privatised. What expertise there was was scattered to the four winds. The emissions kept climbing. Coal was finally kicked out of the electricity generation mix in the 2010s.
On this topic, you might like these other posts on All Our Yesterdays
Xx
References
xx
You can see the chronological list of All Our Yesterdays “on this day” posts here.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
If you want to get involved, let me know.
If you want to invite me on your podcast, that would boost my ego and probably improve the currently pitiful hit-rate on this site (the two are not-unrelated).
Also on this day:
July 18, 1979 – US Senators ask for synthetic fuel implications for greenhouse warming. Told.
July 18, 1996 – Australian Prime Minister snubs #climate talks
July 18, 1996 – Geneva Ministerial Declaration noted but not adopted
July 18, 2005 – inconvenient energy targets scrapped
July 18, 2012: Climate Justice poem – “Tell Them” by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner – hits the internet