Cumbria coal mine could usher in a net-zero-compliant fossil fuel industry – or prove it was always a fantasy

West Cumbria suffered a “once-in-a-thousand-year” flood in 2009. And then again in 2015. And 2019. No, it’s not that meteorologists can’t count. Climate change is increasing the risk of precisely the kind of intense downpours that triggered these floods, so that once-freak weather events now happen far more regularly.