On Monday, 23 January 2023, EURACOAL organised an energy lunch in Brussels. Outgoing EURACOAL President, Ing. Vladimír Budinský, welcomed invited guests to hear presentations from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and RWE.
Members of the European Parliament, colleagues from industry, the media and the European Commission discussed with EURACOAL members the current energy crisis. Carlos Fernández Alvarez presented the IEA’s coal market outlook to 2025, as well as the agency’s views on coal in net-zero transitions.
Roger Miesen, CEO of RWE Generation and representing EURACOAL member DEBRIV, presented a European perspective on energy security. He warned that the phase out of coal needed to be accompanied by the rollout of renewables, otherwise the transition to net zero might not happen. From Bulgaria, MEP Radan Kanev observed that with Russian gas gone, “the transitional fuel is the traditional fuel”, namely coal – a point headlined by Euractiv.
At lunch on the 26th floor of The Hotel, the newly elected EURACOAL President, Dr. Tomasz Rogala, personally thanked guests and discussed the many challenges of the energy transition such as access to sufficient raw materials. Dr. Rogala is Chairman of Polska Grupa Górnicza (Polish Mining Group), Europe’s largest hard coal mining company.
Presentations from the event can be downloaded here:
- “IEA Coal Report 2022 & Coal in Net Zero Transitions”, Carlos Fernández Alvarez, (Acting) Head of Gas, Coal and Power Markets Division, International Energy Agency
- “A European Perspective on Energy Security”, Roger Miesen, RWE
The two recent IEA reports on coal are available to read at “Coal 2022 – analysis and forecast to 2025” and “Coal in Net Zero Transitions – strategies for rapid, secure and people-centred change” (a World Energy Outlook report).
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