Since 1882, UK will have no coal-fired power plants
arstechnica.com
arstechnica.com
They can, but when money is involved it all changes until it's too late. Contracts last hundred of years, exit clauses are expensive. Coal contracts established in the 90's won't be expiring for at least another 50 years.
My mother, a contract sectary back in 70's. One of her jobs was working for Exxon on a contract for fracking Australia in 1995. This was in 1970's. No one thought of climate change than and it's one thing she deeply regrets.
A country doesn't want to invest on something that won't give them a major up-front payday, force them to pay out to exit their current contract even if by maturity age it would be making them money.