Coal Phase Out

European coal companies including RWE, EPH, and PGE, continue to push the cost of dirty energy onto society, with air pollution from their coal plants burdening people across Europe with both health problems and billions in costs, according to modelling detailed in a new report.

The General Court of the European Union has decided today to annul the European Commission’s decision not to raise objections to the aid scheme establishing a ‘capacity market’ in the United Kingdom. The ruling puts into question many capacity mechanisms in place across Europe, including the Polish capacity market which is based on the UK model.

As negotiations on the EU’s new electricity market enter their crucial trialogue phase, the bloc faces a litmus test for the credibility of its climate ambition. With only two trialogues left, the fate of coal subsidies is still not sealed while COP24 is approaching, writes Joanna Flisowska.

The real price we all pay for Turkey’s coal is too high, shows CAN Europe’s new study “The Real Costs of Coal: Muğla”. The research is a case study on one of the country’s oldest coal power infrastructures with numerous lignite mines and three coal-fired power plants in Muğla city. The outcomes of the research demonstrate the urgency with which plans for the expansion of coal mines in the region must be abandoned, and the three plants retired instead of getting life extensions.

Ahead of the trilogue meeting on the Electricity Market Regulation on 18 October 2018, 31 networks and organisations representing citizens from across Europe urge EU ministers to ensure that capacity mechanisms remain a last resort solution and that they no longer subsidise the burning of fossil fuels, coal in particular.

Despite their unprofitability and their harmful impacts on our climate, environment and health, coal power plants still receive massive public subsidies. This is why more than 115,000 Europeans have signed the petition “Let’s move beyond coal!” to call on EU leaders to stop pouring taxpayers’ money into coal through so-called capacity mechanisms.

One day ahead of the EU Environment Ministers meeting expected to adopt the EU’s position for the upcoming UN Climate Summit COP24, the world’s leading body of climate scientists gave strong scientific evidence for the need to keep temperature rise to 1.5°C. The new IPCC report, ordered and endorsed by all world’s governments, showed that many of the dire consequences of future warming can be avoided by respecting this limit. It also confirmed that it is still possible,

Polish utility Enea gave today the green light to build the new coal power plant ‘Ostrołęka C’, despite the unprofitability of the project and protests of environmental groups. Poland plans to use capacity mechanisms to make up for the projected economic loss, a stunning example of why reformed EU capacity mechanisms must stop benefiting dirty and costly forms of energy.

Ahead of the next trilogue on the Electricity Market Design on 11 September, France, UK, Italy, Greece, Hungary, Ireland and Poland have just issued joint comments on the new rules regarding capacity mechanisms, which stand in stark contradiction to their commitment to fully implement the Paris Agreement.

Dear Commissioner Mr Arias Cañete

The Energy Community, which has brought together the European Union and its neighbours to create an integrated pan-European energy market, has been at the forefront of the Western Balkan countries' efforts to join the EU ever since it was founded in 2005.

MEDIA ADVISORY

The Polish grid operator PSE conducted the general certification procedure earlier this week, thereby prequalifying electricity producers for capacity mechanism payments. The certification is an obligatory first step and conclusions sum up how much and what kind of

The EU and China have to live up to their responsibilities on climate change and use every opportunity to support the Western Balkans and Turkey to move beyond coal. This means renewable energy sources and energy efficiency, not new coal, argue Elif Gündüzyeli and Igor Kalaba.

The vast majority of European countries are missing the mark and failing to increase our chances of achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. Too few of them are advocating for ambitious climate and energy targets and policies, and too many are lagging behind in reducing carbon emissions at the level needed to implement the Paris Agreement. That is according to a