Coal in Sharp Decline as Poland Faces Key EU Climate Showdown

(Bloomberg) --

Poland used less coal to generate electricity last year than any other time on record after the rising cost of carbon-emissions permits pushed the country toward alternative fuels and imports.

The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, is set to unveil on Tuesday an investment plan aimed at triggering 1 trillion euros ($1.1 trillion) of investments into making the economy climate neutral by 2050. Poland is the most coal-reliant country in the bloc. It faces the biggest cost of switching to clean energy and stopped short of fully backing net-zero target in December summit.

However, the latest data shows that Poland is already moving in the direction as the share of coal in its electricity usage slumped to 71% from 89% over the last decade. Coal was the sole fuel for Polish power plants at the end of communism in 1989.

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