The principles of sustainable development underlie all of the company's activities: always seeking to strike a balance between environmental, social and economic objectives.
UK COAL is legally obliged to operate to the highest health, safety and environmental standards, as defined by various pieces of UK and European legislation. Through its work with the Health and Safety Executive, UK COAL plays an important role in the development of improved national standards. It pushes mining technology forwards by working with suppliers to develop equipment that our employees can use safely and strives to eliminate risk through an on-going refinement of working practices.
By law, UK COAL must undertake comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessments for any new developments. We must produce an Environmental Statement describing, in both technical and non-technical terms, the environmental impacts and benefits of the new development, along with proposed mitigation measures. The statutory process involves full public consultation, and UK COAL goes beyond what is required to ensure that as many members of the public as possible have the opportunity to see proposals and ask questions, which may result in further assessment work.
UK COAL is represented on several research or advisory committees dealing with environmental issues associated with the use of coal. It actively promotes the use of clean coal technologies and, in the longer term, the adoption of technologies to capture and store the carbon dioxide released when coal is used for electricity generation.
With the rising demand for energy, fossil fuels including coal will continue to be required for the foreseeable future. The company will continue to support projects which seek to minimise emissions from coal use during the long transition to the more sustainable energy systems that will surely emerge during the course of the 21st Century.