15 April 2025
EPH’s strategy: A transition away from fossil fuels or from accountability?
On Saturday 12 April 2025, Beyond Fossil Fuels (BFF) and partners held a civil society conference on the fossil-fuel business model and complex corporate network of Czech energy company Energetický a průmyslový holding (EPH), the former parent company of the East German lignite company LEAG, in Cottbus, Germany [1].
The conference exposed how EPH’s corporate restructuring strategy is enabling the company to greenwash its image for investors, continue profiting from coal and fossil gas, and avoid paying billions of euros in mine recultivation costs in Eastern Germany.
A few days prior to the conference, EPH published its 2024 annual results claiming that its energy transition is on track [2], and announced a series of sudden departures from the executive team of LEAG, including COO Philipp Nellesen [3].
EPH’s energy transition plan is heading straight for fossil gas
In its assessment of EPH’s transition plans, BFF determines that the lack of commitment to phasing-out coal in Europe by 2030, and the company’s insistence on developing new fossil gas power capacity contradict EPH’s claims that it is supporting Europe’s energy transition [4]. EPH’s plans to double its gas power capacity to over 19 GW across Europe is compounded by the fact that the utility does not have a fossil gas power phase-out target.
Brigitte Alarcon, Campaigner at Beyond Fossil Fuels:
“While claiming that its energy transition is on track, EPH’s aggressive expansion into fossil gas points to different conclusions. EPH has the European utility with the largest pipeline of fossil gas capacity. Without a credible transition plan EPH is posing a significant risk to Europe’s decarbonisation goals.”
EPH’s corporate restructuring suggests attempt to dodge coal mine recultivation costs in Eastern Germany
EPH is aware that holding onto coal assets is a reputational and financial risk. The company has reshuffled its assets under the guise of a coal phase-out to its sister company EP Energy Transition (EPETr) in order to present a clean image for investors while continuing to profit from coal [5].
Most recently, EPH’s newly established sister company EPETr has fully taken over LEAG’s coal assets, and restructured its sub-entities into GmbHs with reduced legal liabilities —a development that raises alarm bells among civil society and political groups [6].
The surprising departure of several LEAG executives over the last few months further points to LEAG becoming a “bad bank” as a way to avoid paying the billions in recultivation costs from the mines.
Karsten Smid, Energy Campaigner at Greenpeace Germany:
“The entire corporate structure of LEAG is turned inside out, billions in obligations for recultivation costs are outsourced, and managers leave the sinking ship. What remains is a bad bank – a corporate shell of limited liability companies – in which negative assets are isolated in order to clean up the overall picture. In the end, who will pay the billions for the recultivation of the open-pit mining holes?“
END
CONTACTS:
Julia Pazos, Communications Manager, Beyond Fossil Fuels,
[email protected], +13109949692
Brigitte Alarcon, Campaigner, Beyond Fossil Fuels
[email protected], +33 641 288 759
Karsten Smid, Campaigner, Greenpeace
[email protected], +49 171 8780821
NOTES:
[1] The conference was hosted by Beyond Fossil Fuels and ReSet, with speakers from Greenpeace Germany, Deutsche Umwelthilfe, and Gruene Liga. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/zivilgesellschaftliche-eph-konferenz-tickets-1289817100669
[2] https://www.epholding.cz/en/press-releases/eph-announces-financial-results-for-2024/ and https://www.epholding.cz/en/results-centre/
[3] https://www.leag.de/de/news/details/dr-philipp-nellessen-verlaesst-die-leag/
[4] https://powerutilitiestracker.org/
[5] https://beyondfossilfuels.org/2025/02/12/behind-the-mask-investigating-ephs-coal-exit-claims-2/
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