Cumbria coalmine firm ‘betting on UK breach of climate targets’

Expert tells inquiry WCM's plans are not legally compliant under UK's and EU's policy frameworks

The company seeking to open the UK's first new deep coalmine in 30 years is gambling on the UK's and EU's failure to address climate change, the public inquiry into the mining plans has heard.

An expert witness for one of the parties opposed to West Cumbria Mining's (WCM) plans to dig up 2.7m tonnes of coking coal a year says the firm's case for the mine rests on the assumption that UK and EU governments will breach their legally binding climate targets by using the coal to supply steelmaking over the coming decades.