Half way there

In 2016, there were 324 coal plants in Europe. Today’s announcement by EDF that their 2GW plant West Burton A will close in 2022 is the 162nd retirement announcement since then. This means that in just 5 years, half of Europe’s coal fleet has made plans to close before 2030.

It’s not hard to see why: coal generation has halved within the EU since 2015 due to competition with wind and solar, with the impact of Covid-19 further accelerating coal’s decline in 2020. The falling cost of renewable power generation alongside an increasing carbon price has made coal uncompetitive, with the result that in many countries coal plants have lost running hours and often rely on government subsidies to make a profit. While coal generation could rebound from the effects of covid over the next year, increasing renewable capacity over the next decade will only continue to eat into coal‘s running time. As Europe recovers from the pandemic, it has the opportunity to step up renewables deployment to replace coal and achieve a 2030 EU-wide coal phase-out.

However, continuing to burn coal will lead to Europe missing its climate goals. In order to limit global warming to the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 degree target, European coal generation must end by 2030, while the EU’s  -55% emissions target necessitates 55TWh of coal generation by the same date. The use of coal above this amount will lead in the long run to a high environmental cost. Even if coal jobs are saved, the communities supported by them will suffer health and economic consequences, along with the wider economy.