Coal Phase Out

Energy Community countries propped up coal mining and electricity generation with direct and indirect public subsidies totalling at least 2.4 billion euros annually, out of which around half were provided by Western Balkan countries, shows a study (1) released today by the Vienna-based Secretariat of the Energy Community Treaty, the international treaty working to integrate the energy markets of the EU with those of its neighbours.

Tempus Energy yesterday took the European Commission to Court for approving the Polish electricity capacity market which favours fossil fuel generation at the expense of clean energy technologies.

Sixteen outdated coal power plants in the Western Balkans are a public health and economic liability for the whole of Europe, with people in the EU bearing the majority of the health impacts and costs, according to the new report by the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), Sandbag,

Sixteen outdated coal power plants in the Western Balkans are a public health and economic liability for the whole of Europe, with people in the EU bearing the majority of the health impacts and costs, according to the new report by the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), Sandbag, Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, CEE Bankwatch Network and Europe Beyond Coal. The

Today the European Parliament, Commission and Council have taken a step in the right direction by agreeing to end coal subsidies by 2025, paving the way for a European-wide coal phase out. However the biggest polluters still got to buy some time despite the urgency of climate change. With only twelve years left to act to keep temperature rise below 1.5°C and thus avoid catastrophic impacts of climate change as highlighted in the latest IPCC report, every cent spent on coal will be

Today Austria won the shameful Fossil of the Day Award from Climate Action Network (CAN) International. Austria was given this dubious award because it is failing as the president of the EU to end subsidies to coal power plants in the current EU electricity market negotiations, while the the bloc underperforms on climate finance for developing countries, which are at the forefront of the worsening impacts of climate change.

Commenting on the US delegation side event promoting coal at COP24 today, Joanna Flisowska from CAN Europe said:

The Climate Change Performance Index 2019 (CCPI), published today at the climate summit COP24 by Germanwatch, the NewClimate Institute and Climate Action Network (CAN) shows that three years after the adoption of the Paris Agreement, none of the 56 evaluated countries nor the EU are doing enough to achieve the temperature goals agreed in Paris. Countries must urgently increase their targets and scale up action to implement

EU legislators have once again failed to agree on electricity market rules that would lead to zero-emissions energy systems. Instead, under the Austrian Presidency consent, some Member States are still trying to secure massive subsidies through so-called ‘Capacity mechanisms’ to polluting and uncompetitive coal-fired power plants.

The Polish Ministry of Energy presented today its draft national energy policy 2040, whose orientation obviously stands in the way of the Paris Agreement as well as EU’s energy targets by 2030. It also turns a blind eye on the ever decreasing costs of renewable technologies, wind power in particular.

This December government leaders will gather in Katowice, Poland, for the  COP24 climate summit. Negotiators from nearly 200 countries will convene to advance implementation of the Paris Agreement. They are expected to commit to put forward higher 2030 climate targets by 2020, deliver a robust Paris Agreement rulebook and provide predictable and meaningful financial support for developing countries. Click to find out more on CAN Europe's side events.

The Polish electricity grid operator has just published the official preliminary results of the first capacity market auction in Poland to award contracts to power plants from 2021 onwards. Capacity mechanisms, which are