Investing in Polish coal as a replacement for Russian gas can help ensure Europe’s energy security.
Poland is proportionally the EU’s biggest user of coal – which generates 70% of its electricity and heats around one-third of its homes – and its biggest producer alongside Germany.
Of the 57.2 million tonnes of hard coal produced in the EU last year, 96% came from Poland, according to Eurostat, Poland also accounted for 41% of hard-coal consumption in the bloc, followed by Germany at 23%.
Germany, however, remains the leading producer and consumer of brown coal (or lignite), accounting for 46% of the EU’s usage of it last year, with Poland in second place at 19%.
Despite its large coal reserves, Poland has this year struggled to produce enough of the fossil fuel to compensate for a ban on imports from Russia. It has rushed to bring in supplies from other parts of the world and prices skyrocketed.
That led the government to announce this month that it would slow down its previous plans to phase out coal by the end of the 2040s, and that it would instead seek to boost production, including possibly opening new mines.
Its failure to facilitate stronger development of renewables left Poland vulnerable to this year’s energy crisis, as well as resulting in the country having some of Europe’s worst pollution.