Europe was built on coal – its industry and its unity. From the European Coal and Steel Community to Energy Union, coal has been a constant. When I entered the European Parliament in 2004, I found the coal industry well represented by EURACOAL. Here, I am pleased to add a few words to the association’s latest publication on the coal industry across Europe.

In Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas, energy from coal transformed societies for the better, but its environmental and climate impacts are a curse. As such, the coal industry and politics are inseparable. From a technical perspective, coal is a fascinating raw material: chemicals and plastics produced from coal have fed our industrial economy and continue to do so in parts of the world today, particularly for industrial growth across Asia.

When Donald Tusk first proposed the Energy Union in 2014, he wrote on coal: “We need to fight for a cleaner planet but we must have safe access to energy resources and jobs to finance it.” The Energy Union has helped drive down greenhouse gas emissions and allowed the EU to show remarkable resilience when faced with the consequences of Russia’s unwarranted aggression against Ukraine. Without such unity – and without the EU coal sector among others – the recent energy prices and security crisis could have been more severe – especially throughout winter.

However, for coal the inevitable and much-needed energy transition means change. The EU target to become climate-neutral by 2050 means coal’s days are numbered for power generation. In the meantime, coal will continue to play an essential role in Europe’s energy mix, strategically, economically and socially.

Strategically, coal has provided us with a flexible alternative to Russian gas as coal power generation using coal from the international market displaced gas power. Economically, coal continues to play an important role in some Member States – for example in my home country, Poland, where it has around 65% share in electricity generation. Looking ahead, coal power can help balance wind and solar in competition with gas to ensure fair prices for consumers. Socially, the EU coal sector provides over 144 000 well-paid, direct jobs with transferrable skills. Many more jobs depend indirectly on the sector in Europe’s coal regions. This is why, following my initiatives in the European Parliament, the Just Transition Fund was established in 2021 with €17.5 billion of EU support from 2021 to 2027 for the coal and carbon-intensive regions to transition towards new, cleaner activities.

Seventy-two years ago, the European Coal and Steel Community was created to manage our common resources. Today, the EU continues that mission with a much smaller coal sector. This report describes the current situation of coal in Europe and outlines a future in which those working in the sector’s transformation can be as proud as their forefathers.

Jerzy Buzek – Member of the European Parliament since 2004, President of the European Parliament 2009-2012, Prime Minister of Poland 1997-2001