12 February 2025
“Coal-free” or a cover-up: Is the mask slipping on EPH’s clean energy transition?
BERLIN, 12 FEBRUARY 2025 – A new investigation [1] by NGO groups Beyond Fossil Fuels and Re-set [2] suggests that promises by major European power company EPH [3] that it will move away from coal by 2030 are not necessarily to be taken at face value. The research reveals that EPH’s corporate structure is closely intertwined with its sister company EP Energy Transition (EPETr), to which it’s transferring its coal assets, and highlights the need for existing and potential investors to carry out due diligence regarding EPH’s claims, and assess whether they are compatible with a credible energy transition plan.
EPH, Daniel Křetínský’s top company, currently ranks third in Europe in terms of coal capacity [4], and was also the third largest greenhouse gas emitter in Europe in 2022 [5]. While the power utility claims it will soon be coal-free, instead of closing all of its coal operations, since 2021 it has been formally moving assets over to what is presented as a separate company, EPETr. The investigation shows that significant operational, managerial, and financial ties persist between the two companies via a network of service agreements and asset guarantees, along with extensive personnel overlaps. These raise significant questions about EPETr’s true autonomy, and whether this restructuring may be allowing EPH to continue to benefit from its sister company’s coal revenue streams, while obscuring its true emissions profile from investors and regulators.
“EPH’s claims of a coal-free future are an elaborate smokescreen designed to mislead the public and investors,” says Radek Kubala, a campaigner at Re-set and co-author of the report. “Through its restructuring strategy, EPH is able to project a public image of environmental responsibility that does not match reality. By transferring coal assets to EP Energy Transition while maintaining control through personnel and operational overlaps, EPH avoids genuine transformation, conceals its dependence on coal, and prioritises reputation management over meaningful change.”
A key aspect of these corporate overlaps is via the management of LEAG – the coal company which EPETr was set up to hold [6]. While 70% of EPH’s coal assets were transferred to EPETr in 2023, the transaction was structured in a manner that preserved key decision-making power for EPH over LEAG through a series of complex shareholdings and management arrangements. The transfer to EPETr of a second EPH-owned German coal company, MIBRAG, is set for 2025. MIBRAG plans to mine coal until 2035. LEAG’s and MIBRAG’s operations are in sharp contrast to the need to phase out coal in Europe by 2030 to limit global warming to livable temperatures [7].
This is a critical year for EPH in terms of financing, with two major bank loans maturing in May and June, as well as a series of bonds. Financiers will face a choice about whether to accept EPH’s claims that it is moving away from coal and continue providing investment, or to move away from it, also in light of the company’s significant fossil gas development plans, which are incompatible with a decarbonised future and a 1.5°C-aligned trajectory [8].
“EPH is well known as a coal phase-out delayer and the creation of EP Energy Transition seems to fit into this pattern. By investing in EPH, financiers could be risking both money and reputation by inadvertently making investments that effectively hinder Europe’s clean energy transition. Only the closure of EPH’s coal businesses can signal that the utility is on its way out of coal. Shuffling assets certainly isn’t enough”, says Brigitte Alarcon, campaigner with Beyond Fossil Fuels and report co-author.
END
CONTACTS:
Julia Pazos, Communications Manager, Beyond Fossil Fuels,
[email protected], +13109949692
Brigitte Alarcon, Campaigner, Beyond Fossil Fuels
[email protected], +33 641 288 759
Radek Kubala, Campaigner, Re-set
[email protected], +420 736 457 028
NOTES:
[1] Briefing: Behind the Mask: Investigating EPH’s coal exit claims https://beyondfossilfuels.org/2025/02/03/behind-the-mask-investigating-ephs-coal-exit-claims/
[2] Europe-wide civil society coalition Beyond Fossil Fuels and Czech organisation Re-set commissioned the NGO FIND (fi-nd.org) to carry out the investigation for this report. FIND’s researchers are specialists in supply chain accountability analysis and asset tracing.
[3] Energetický a průmyslový holding (EPH) is a Czech Republic (Prague) based company currently investing mainly in the energy sector in Europe, founded in 2009. EPH claims it will be “almost coal free by 2025” and “fully coal-free by 2030”. https://www.epholding.cz/en/press-releases/eph-completed-the-divestment-of-the-leag-group/#:~:text=As%20a%20result%2C%20and%20together,fully%20coal%20free%20by%202030.
[4] Beyond Fossil Fuels coal database https://beyondfossilfuels.org/coal/
[5] https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/eu-ets-2022/#supporting-material
[7] The IEA’s 1.5°C-compatible global energy scenario strongly recommends that European economies exit coal power by 2030: https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050
[8] https://beyondfossilfuels.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Power-Moves-and-Power-Failures.pdf
ABOUT:
Beyond Fossil Fuels is a collective civil society campaign committed to ensuring all of Europe’s electricity is generated from fossil-free, renewable energy by 2035. It expands and builds upon the Europe Beyond Coal campaign, and its goal of a coal-free Europe in power and heat by 2030 at the latest. www.beyondfossilfuels.org
Re-set: Platform for Socio-Ecological Transformation is an organisation that supports efforts aimed at building a new economic model based on cooperation instead of competition, care instead of exploitation, and democratic forms of ownership. We support grassroots movements and initiatives striving for diverse improvements in all areas of life. https://re-set.cz/