Energy firm SSE has said it plans to shut down its last remaining coal-fired power station at Fiddler’s Ferry in Cheshire. The site, operated by the “big six” energy company, had already been dramatically scaled back and BBC Newsreports a comment from the firm describing its losses as “unsustainable”. The Guardian notes this latest closure will leave the UK with just five coal power stations (see Carbon Brief’s coal phase-out tracker), and says the news came as the National Grid announced the UK’s “greenest” winter on record for energy use after mild weather made it easier to avoid coal. However, the Liverpool Echo describes the “devastating blow” to the 158 workers based at the site, some of which may be redeployed elsewhere. According to ITV News, the union Prospect says it “understands the necessity of transitioning away from high-carbon generation”, but believes “that it is essential that workers are supported during this transition, and we will be working on behalf of those affected through this difficult period”. (See Carbon Brief’s new interactive which shows the role declining coal has played in how the UK has transformed its electricity supply in just a decade.)

Meanwhile, coverage continues about the decision in Australia to approve the controversial Adani coal mine. The Guardian reports comments made by Coalition MP Michelle Landry who told Radio National she does not have an exact figure for the number of jobs to be created by the mine, but said it would be “considerable”.

The Guardian reports that “despite government promises”, only 1,420 hectares (3,507 acres) of trees were planted in England in the year to March 2019, falling short of the 5,000-hectare target. It comes shortly after the Committee on Climate Change’s advice that 1.5bn trees would be needed by 2050 to meet the new net-zero goal, equivalent to 30,000 hectares every year. Michael Gove has previously pledged funding for a national campaign of tree-planting to help meet more ambitious targets. Press Association also has the story. Scotland, meanwhile, has made a “critical contribution to the global climate emergency” by meeting its targets and planting 22m trees last year, according to the Scotsman.

Separately, the Financial Times and Reuters report a warning from US-based agricultural commodities trader Cargill that they and other major companies will not meet their pledge – made at the UN Climate Summit in 2014 – to stop the conversion of forests into farmland by next year.

BusinessGreen reports on an open letter from the UN to the chief executives of major companies calling for more firms to set science-based targets in line with 1.5C trajectory included in the Paris Agreement. “The letter is signed by Lise Kingo, CEO and executive director of the UN Global Compact, one of the member organisations of the SBT initiative, alongside more than 20 leaders including UN General Assembly president María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa, and former Unilever CEO Paul Polman,” it says.

Meanwhile, Time magazine features UN secretary-general António Guterres on its front cover, up to his knees in seawater off the coast of the Pacific island of Tuvalu. It marks a piece in which he says climate change defining issue that can prove the value of the UN itself and collective action.

News outlets continue covering the UK government’s decision to set a net-zero target for 2050, with a range of commentary appearing across the British press. An editorial for the Financial Times warns that the UK must not “squander” this chance to be a world leader, noting it “needs to demonstrate an economically sound transition that could be a model for other countries”. According to the Independent’s editorial, such leadership can only be achieved only “if followed by 30 years of good diplomacy”. Elsewhere, an analysis piece for the same outlet examines the feasibility of Labour’s idea to bring the net-zero date forward to 2030.

Writing in the Times, Sky News economics editor Ed Conway compares the pledge with Brexit, noting the “compromises, sacrifices and lifestyle changes that haven’t even begun to sink in”, as well as the uncertainties about how the pledge will be delivered. “Aiming to eliminate carbon emissions is a brilliant, bold objective. But shoving it into law through the back door undermines it,” he writes. Jill Rutter from the Institute for Government shares some of these concerns with a piece expressing the need for “proper debate” around the net-zero target. In a Spectator article, which also appears in the Sun, Ross Clark also focuses on the costs associated with the new target, criticising the Conservative leadership candidates for “competing fiercely to establish their green credentials”. In a piece for the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute, Michael Jacobs, the climate advisor under Labour’s former prime minister Gordon Brown, notes that the very act of setting such an ambitious climate target “can speed up the process of innovation and reduce costs associated with emissions reductions”.

After the Queensland government decided to approve the Adani coal mine, the Sydney Morning Herald says in its editorial that the move “must not stop the crucial debate on how Australia can transition to a low-carbon economy”. It notes the role the mine had in shaping the recent Australian election, as well as how it has become a focal point for those concerned about the nation’s inaction on climate change. However, with the decision “likely final”, the editorial says now both state and federal governments must not provide the mine with any financial support, instead focusing on funding a transition for Australian miners to new jobs in a “low-carbon world”.

Writing in the Financial Times, former executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Christiana Figueres says this trio of large east Asian economies should commit to phasing out coal and bringing in renewables instead. With these nations exporting “high-polluting coal technology to fast-growing economies in south-east Asia”, she notes that such a transition would benefit the entire world. “If Japan, China and South Korea decided together to end their coal race and instead pursue a race to the clean energy future, everyone would benefit, including them,” she concludes.

Thwaites could be the glacier most threatened by instability in Antarctica, a new study finds. The study finds that the Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers would be the fastest to respond to instability – while other regions around Antarctica would respond up to 10 times slower if destabilised. The authors say: “These results have to be viewed in light of the strong assumptions made in their derivation. These include the absence of ice-shelf buttressing, the one-dimensionality of the approach and the uncertainty of the available data.”