Coal’s share of electricity generation in the EU fell to a record low of 9.2% in 2025.
Hard coal accounted for 3.7% of the EU’s gross electricity production last year, equal to 105,601 gigawatt-hours (GWh), while brown coal made up 5.5%, or 154,186 GWh, Eurostat reported on Thursday.
Coal’s share dropped below 10% for the first time in 2024 and fell further in 2025.
In 1990, coal generated more than a third of the EU’s electricity, before falling to 30.4% in 2000, with only small rises in 2011–2012 and 2021–2022.
By 2025, hard coal and brown coal had become the EU’s seventh and sixth largest sources of electricity generation respectively, behind nuclear heat, natural gas and renewable fuels.
Coal consumption falls as some countries phase out production
Consumption of hard coal and brown coal in the EU is estimated to have hit new historical lows in 2025, at 107 million tonnes and 184 million tonnes respectively, Eurostat said.
Some EU countries have phased out coal use in recent years, including Portugal, which stopped using hard coal for electricity generation in 2021, while Slovakia ended production of brown coal in 2024, leaving eight EU countries still producing brown coal.
