Four years after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the European Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee on Extractive Industries met Mykhailo Volynets today to learn more about the difficulties faced by coal miners working under the shadow of armed conflict. As well as being a sitting member of the Batkivshchyna party in the Verkhovna Rada, PD Volynets heads the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine (NPGU) and chairs the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (KVPU). He represents workers at DTEK, the country’s largest private energy company and a member of EURACOAL.
Mykhailo Volynets addesses SSDEI committee, 31 March 2026
Leszek Pietraszek, Vice-Marshal of the Silesian Voivodeship
On 15 May 2025, an international conference on the coal industry’s transition “from an industrial legend to cutting-edge research for the future” took place at the “Carbonarium” centre in Jastrzębie-Zdrój, Poland. The event, organised by EURACOAL and the European Research Executive Agency, brought together key policymakers, research engineers and representatives of the coal industry and regions from across the European Union.
An illustrated report is available here along with presentations and videos.
Marc Tachelet, Director of the European Research Executive Agency
The conference was hosted by Europe’s largest coking coal company, Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa S.A., to discuss the challenges facing the coal sector, with a particular focus on the roles of science, technology and engineering in the EU’s green transformation and its raw material supply security.
Alicja Krzemień, President of EURACOAL
“We don’t turn away from the past, but we are turning it into the future. Europe needs the knowledge that the mining regions have, and the RFCS (Research Fund for Coal and Steel) is the bridge between industrial heritage and green innovation,” said Alicja Krzemień, President of EURACOAL. Prof. Krzemień also pointed out that the RFCS is now a pillar in the development and deployment of modern technologies at former coal mines and power plants, by enabling projects in the fields of land remediation and new energy infrastructure based on green energy sources.
Marc Lemaître, Director-General, European Commission DG Research & Innovation
Coal mine methane and the recent EU Methane Regulation were a key focus of the meeting. The REM project on the reduction of methane emissions was presented, this being the largest such project co-financed by the Polish coal mining industry in the history of the RFCS. The ProVAM project, whose main goal is to develop methods and guidelines for the capture of methane from ventilation air, was also presented. The challenges of implementing the EU Methane Regulation were addressed by a representative of the European Commission: “Today, it is crucial that the methodology for measuring methane emissions is uniform across all mine sites. We have thousands of closed mines that need to be monitored. The most difficult is ventilation methane – its concentration is low, but the airflows are huge.”
Marzena Czarnecka, Polish Minister of Industry
The event, which was held under the auspices of the Polish Presidency of the European Union, was attended by 200 representatives coming from the Polish Ministry of Industry, the European Commission, and the European Research Executive Agency, as well as research scientists and industrialists from across Europe. The Polish Minister of Industry, Marzena Czarnecka, stressed the important role of Silesia. “Transformation is happening here and now. Silesia is particularly burdened with socio-economic problems. It is our duty to ensure that change is “soft”, well-planned and serves the people.” she said.
During the conference, many other recent and new RFCS projects were presented by project partners: MEMO, METH2GEN, GI-MINE, RECOVERY, GreenJOBS, TRIM4Post-Mining, RAISING, and COFA.
At a meeting of the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for the Extractive Industries hosted by the European Commission (DG EMPL) on 23 September 2024, EURACOAL, together with the social partners Euromines, IMA Europe, APEP, UEPG and IndustriAll, signed joint recommendations for the next European Mandate (2024-2029). Continue reading Social Partners Statement→
As EURACOAL’s premier publication, Coal industry across Europe provides a snapshot of the coal and lignite mining industry and the influence of EU policy on the coal sector as a whole, including power generation. With many facts and figures, it covers not only the EU, but also Energy Community countries and the UK and Morocco, given that these two coal-using countries are well interconnected with EU member states. In this 8th edition, new chapters on phasing out coal in the EU and what a just transition means complement an updated chapter on the international coal market and global energy trends.
The association’s beautifully illustrated report was published on the web in January and is now available in hard copy (and pdf) with a foreword by Prof. Jerzy Buzek, a Member of the European Parliament since 2004, President of the European Parliament 2009-2012, and Prime Minister of Poland 1997-2001. As he steps down from the European Parliament, he recalls his first impressions of EURACOAL in 2004 and looks to a future in which those working in the coal sector’s transformation can be as proud as their forefathers.
The European Association for Coal and Lignite or EURACOAL has members from fourteen EU member states and other countries on paths towards EU membership. In the latest edition of World Coal magazine (2023 issue 2), the association gives an overview of the industry it represents and examines upcoming EU legislation of importance for the future of coal and lignite mining and use in Europe. With climate policies pushing towards coal phase outs, the article concludes with a look at how the EU is supporting the coal regions during what will be a major transformation of the whole energy sector. To read the full article, follow this free subscription link: www.worldcoal.com.
EURACOAL Senior VP, Vladimír Budinský, in conversation with MEP Ondřej Knotek and MEP Radan Kanev
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. Continue reading To phase out coal, roll out renewables!→
Silesian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sławomir Chrzanowski with soloists Iwona Socha and Adam Sobierajski, Katowice, Poland, 7 March 2022.
On Monday, 7 March 2022, the Polish Mining Chamber of Industry and Commerce (GIPH) celebrated its 30th anniversary at the Silesian Philharmonic in Katowice with an awards ceremony and concert. The Vice Minister of State Assets and government plenipotentiary for energy and mining transformation, Piotr Pyzik, joined MEPs, members of the Sejm, officials and representatives from science and industry, as well as the President of EURACOAL, Vladimír Budinský. The concert was overshadowed by events in Ukraine where Russian aggressors have created a humanitarian crisis that Poland especially is responding to with great compassion.
The hashtag #StandWithUkraine expresses our feelings, but what can we as individuals actually do to help the people of Ukraine in this time of deep crisis in Europe? Colleagues working for DTEK, our member in Ukraine, are on the front line, working with the army to ensure critical infrastructure is operational. To secure Ukraine’s electricity supply, ENTSO-E must urgently synchronise the now isolated Ukrainian power system with the EU system. Continue reading EURACOAL on the war in Ukraine→
Mr. Vladimír Budinský, EURACOAL President (right) and Mr. Stanislaw Tillich, German Federal Government Commissioner for Structural Change in the Ukrainian Coal-Mining Regions at the ІV International Coal Conference, Kyiv, 13 July 2021
On 13 July 2021, the ІV International Coal Conference “Coal regions of Ukraine: just transition and coal mining – Ukrainian and international experience” took place at Academy DTEK in Kyiv. More than two hundred experts from Ukraine and EU countries discussed the coal industry transition. Representatives of the Ukrainian government and large businesses, leaders of trade unions and directors of regional authorities joined thematic sessions on:
Achieving carbon neutrality and leveraging opportunities for coal communities
Coal mining in the context of the green energy transition, and
Just transition for the coal regions – possibilities for economic diversification of mono-towns.
