Greece, Hungary announce coal phaseout plans
Greece and Hungary will phase out all coal-fired power generation capacity by 2028 and 2030, respectively – accounting for a combined 6 GW – amid efforts to improve their green credentials.
“Until now, Greece’s power mix has been relying on coal and a new lignite plant is currently being built, which was supposed to operate beyond 2050,” said environmental group Europe Beyond Coal, in a note. It added the announcement – delivered by Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the UN climate action summit in New York overnight – made Greece the only country in southeast Europe to have announced a coal phase-out date.
Greece currently has around 4.9 GW of coal-fired capacity.
Also at the New York summit, Hungarian president János Áder announced plans to phase out the country’s 1.1 GW of coal-fired generation capacity by the end of the next decade.
Other major European countries like the UK have signed up to exit coal-fired generation, with Britain due to close all such plants by 2025, while Germany is still devising a staggered phase-out.
