Poland has joined a coalition of 190 countries and organisations in a new commitment to phase out coal power in line with the science of the Paris Climate Agreement, and end all support for new coal power plants. This signals a major change for Europe’s coal stronghold, but only if followed by new renewable energy targets and a 2030 coal phase out plan.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković used his opening address at the COP26 climate meeting in Glasgow today to announce that his country will phase out its only coal plant, the 300MW Plomin, making Croatia coal free by 2033 at the latest. Croatia is the twenty first European country to commit to ending the use of coal power since the Paris Agreement was signed.
A leaked Romanian government document indicates that Romania intends to phase out coal by 2032.
Turkey can be coal free by 2030 if fossil fuel companies are made financially responsible for their externalities in line with the ‘polluter pays’ principle, and the government ends subsidies for coal, according to a new report.
The European Court of Justice has ruled that mining at Poland’s sprawling Turów coal mine must cease while court processes Czech lawsuit.
Czech utility ČEZ announced that the cut of proportion of electricity it produces by burning coal from 39 percent to 12.5 percent by 2030.
Polish utility PGE will have operated Turów lignite mine illegally for one year this coming Saturday 1 May.
The Bulgarian government has announcedin its National Resilience and Recovery Plan that the country will phase out coal in 2038 or 2040.
European climate, environmental and health NGOs have sent an open letter to the European Commission urging it to ensure that bloc-wide guidelines on energy subsidies do not allow taxpayers’ money to be used for bailing out fossil fuel operators. The world is watching and the EU needs to show leadership in helping the transition away from all fossil fuels as soon as possible, the letter says.