Coal’s role in Europe’s electricity system has fallen to a new historic low, with hard and brown coal together accounting for just 9.2% of gross electricity generation across the
European Union in 2025, according to Eurostat data.
Hard coal generated 105,601 GWh last year, representing 3.7% of total EU electricity production, while brown coal contributed 154,186 GWh, or 5.5%. The combined share fell further after coal’s contribution dropped below 10% for the first time in 2024.
The latest figures mark a dramatic shift from the position coal occupied several decades ago. In 1990, coal supplied more than a third of the EU’s electricity, with hard coal alone accounting for 19.8% and brown coal for 15.3%.
By 2000, coal’s combined share had fallen to 30.4%. Despite brief reversals in 2011-12 and 2021-22, the long-term decline has continued, reaching its lowest recorded level last year.
Coal has also steadily lost its position among Europe’s leading sources of electricity. In 1990, hard coal and brown coal were the EU’s second- and third-largest sources of power generation respectively. By 2025, they had fallen to seventh and sixth place.
The transformation has been driven by the rapid expansion of lower-carbon and renewable sources. Nuclear overtook both forms of coal in 1994, followed by natural gas in 2019. Hydropower and wind moved ahead in 2023, while solar surpassed coal in 2024.
The decline in coal-fired generation is mirrored by falling coal production and consumption across the bloc. Eurostat estimates that EU consumption in 2025 fell to historic lows of around 107 million tonnes of hard coal and 184 million tonnes of brown coal.
Several member states have gone further by ending coal use altogether in particular sectors. Portugal stopped using hard coal for electricity generation in 2021, while Slovakia ended brown coal production in 2024.
Eight EU countries now remain producers of brown coal, underscoring the uneven pace of the bloc’s transition away from one of its most carbon-intensive fuels.
The figures underline the scale of the structural change taking place in Europe’s power sector, as coal continues to give way to renewables, nuclear power and other sources in the EU’s electricity mix. Photo by User Heliosteam, Harald Hillemanns on de.wikipedia.