"Britain wants to close all of its coal-fired power plants by 2025 and lower their output from 2023, the government said on Wednesday, making it the first major economy to put a date on shutting down polluting coal plants to curb carbon emissions.

Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Changel, Amber Rudd, will set out further details in a speech later on Wednesday that will seek to encourage the building of new gas and nuclear power plants instead.

Coal-fired power plants provided around a third of Britain's electricity last year but many of the ageing plants have been due to close over the next decade due to tightening European Union environmental standards."

Susanna Twidale reports for Reuters November 18, 2015. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"UK's Coal Plants To Be Phased Out Within 10 Years" (BBC News) [3]

"Energy Policy Shift Will Phase Out Coal But Put Climate Fight on Backburner" (Guardian) [4]