Coal is abundant, affordable and available – that is why it is the fuel of choice for electricity generation in many developed and developing countries.  In Europe, coal ensures a truly competitive energy market.  Without inter-fuel competition from coal, industrial and residential electricity consumers would face much higher power prices.

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, coal has brought prosperity to many nations.  Industrialisation has improved living conditions, health care and communications.  Life expectancy in the United Kingdom has doubled thanks to industrialisation – a picture repeated around the world.  As society has aged so the global population has increased, creating a higher demand for energy.  Forecasts predict that energy demand will continue growing, so new energy technologies will be needed to meet the expectation of higher living standards for all and a clean environment.

Figure 10 – Life expectancy in rich and poor countries around the world has increased with industrialisation (Sources: Riley, 2005;  Clio Infra, 2015 in Zijdeman, 2015; and UN Population Division, 2019) N.b. life expectancy at birth is the average number of years a newborn would live if the pattern of mortality in the given year were to stay the same throughout its life.

In the European Union, coal remains an important energy source, meeting 15% of primary energy demand in 2017.  At 187 million tonnes of coal equivalent (Mtce), indigenous coal and lignite production exceeded EU production of oil or fossil gas.  Ample reserves of coal and lignite are found in many member states.

Coal mining companies create well-paid jobs with above-regional-average salaries (Figure 12).  They pay national taxes and contribute to local authority budgets.  Overall, EU companies making up the coal-value chain (e.g. mining, supply, power generation and coke making) paid a net €35 billion to governments in 2015 (Figure 11).  Unlike renewable energy sources, the oil, gas and coal sectors make net contributions to the public purse.

Figure 11 – EU28 + Norway net government revenues and mandated transfers, 2015 (Source: NERA analysis for IOGP, 2018)

In 2018, across the EU, 76 million tonnes of hard coal and 367 million tonnes of lignite were produced.  Mining this coal employed 163 thousand people, some at integrated mine and power plants.  In the greater Europe, including the Balkans, Turkey and Ukraine, this number rises to 291 thousand people (Table 1).  Adding the indirect jobs supported by coal mining at suppliers of equipment, services and materials leads to a total of around 800 thousand people whose livelihoods depend on the coal industry.  Coal mining is often the main employer in regions which would otherwise be depressed and suffering from high unemployment.

Figure 12 – Average annual wages in the mining and quarrying sector, which includes coal mining, compared with wages across industry in EU member states, 2014 (Source: Eurostat database earn_ses14_27, last update 18.05.2018)

The annual value of EU-wide coal and lignite production, based on its calorific value and on international hard coal prices, totalled around €18 billion in 2018.¹  Adding coal imports lifts the total value of coal used in the EU to €34 billion.  To replace this coal with fossil gas would mean a greater dependency on non-EU gas as the EU itself has insufficient indigenous fossil gas production to meet its existing needs.  In 2017, the EU was 74% dependent on gas imports.

In 2017, power generation from coal and other solid fuels – indigenous and imported – accounted for 21.5% of gross electricity production in the EU.  With the growth of intermittent renewable power generation from wind and solar, the flexibility of conventional thermal power plants matters more and more.  Coal-fired power plants respond as quickly as gas-fired plants to the ups and down of electricity supply and demand, helping to keep electricity grids in balance and our lights on, whatever the time of day, whatever the weather and whatever the season.

Table 1 – Manpower in the European coal industry, 2015 and 2018 Source: EURACOAL members

	2015			2018
	Hard Coal	Lignite	Total	Hard Coal	Lignite	Total
Bosnia and Herzegovina	–	14 382	14 382	–	13 323	13 323
Bulgaria	–	11 765	11 765	–	10 294	10 294
Czech Republic	10 131	7 869	18 000	6 757	7 147	13 904
Germany	9 640	15 428	25 068	4 125	15 876	20 001
Greece	–	4 919	4 919	–	4 082	4 082
Hungary	–	1 655	1 655	–	1 400	1 400
Norway	267	–	267	126	–	126
Poland	89 924	9 574	99 498	82 843	8 583	91 426
Romania	4 442	10 600	15 042	3 022	13 000	16 022
Serbia	1 600	12 360	13 960	3 500	14 850	18 350
Slovakia	–	2 190	2 190	–	2 000	2 000
Slovenia	–	1 274	1 274	–	1 252	1 252
Spain	3 324	–	3 324	1 549	–	1 549
Turkey	15 668	28 856	44 524	14 251	37 596	51 847
Ukraine	122 000	–	122 000	44 300	–	44 300
United Kingdom	1 975	–	1 975	647	–	647
Total	258 971	120 872	379 843	161 120	129 403	290 523

Note

¹ Indigenous coal production of 76 Mt, lignite production of 367 Mt (approximately 133 Mt at 6 000 kcal/kg) and imports of 167 Mt in 2018, at an average price of 92 US$/tonne for steam coal and double this for coking coal (IHS, 2019).