Not only do some EU Member States have no intention of phasing out coal for their electricity production by 2030, but they are also receiving EU financial support for energy transition, says a new report by Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe and Sandbag, published on Wednesday 29 May.
Titled ‘Just Transition or Just Talk?’, it is based on the draft Integrated National Energy/Climate Plans (NECPs) 2019-2030 of the 21 remaining EU Member States that still use coal (all except Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Malta).
It shows that only eight countries have committed themselves to phasing out coal over the period 2021-2030 (France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Finland, Portugal, Denmark and Austria, with a vague target for the latter country).
Eleven Member States do not plan to phase out coal by 2030 and most of them have very little or no reduction in coal production capacity compared to 2019.
According to the NECP, the installed coal production capacity in the EU would still be 60 GW in 2030, a reduction of only 58% compared to current levels (143 GW).
The countries that intend to use the most coal in 2030 are Poland, Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and the Czech Republic.
Most countries that are not planning or are planning a minimal transition out of coal benefit from various EU energy transition support schemes, including the ‘Platform of Coal Regions in Transition’.
“Coal-reliant Member States want to have their cake and eat it with just transition funding. The European Commission can only continue to support these Member States if they come up with realistic plans for moving away from coal”, says Charles Moore of Sandbag in a statement.
“The European Commission needs to hold governments to account on the quality of their NECPs. Climate laggards should not get a free pass”, adds Joanna Flisowska of CAN Europe.
Two Member States intend to phase out coal but do not make it an explicit objective in their NECPs. See original report: https://bit.ly/2I8LLFn. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)