The Czech Republic will use more fossil fuels as a power source over the next decade than the majority of the EU, a new report has revealed.
Think Tank Ember has analysed energy plans submitted by all 27 European Union member states. These documents, which were submitted to the European Commission for approval, detailed how the country expected to produce electricity by 2030. The Czech Republic submitted theirs in January 2020 after the material was approved by the government. The results don’t look good – Poland is the only country that uses more coal than Czechia.
In 2030, coal, the fossil fuel which emits the most CO 2, will still account for at least a third of total electricity production in Bulgaria, Czechia and Poland (considerably more in Poland).
The 2020’s is a crucial time for climate change action. To meet the EU’s commitments under the Paris Agreement — which aims to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C — all EU countries need to phase out coal by 2030. However, the report shows that Czechia is far from achieving these goals. Approximately 90% of the remaining electricity generation from coal is expected to be from just three countries, Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic.
Czechia also has the worst green energy commitment. The country plans to convert less than 5% of its power output to solar and wind by 2030. Meanwhile, the Netherlands plans to replace over 60% of its current electricity supply.
Eastern Europe generally performs below average. Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria produced the least amount of bioenergy in 2018, and this trend is set to continue. The use of renewables is slowing down in Czechia, Romania, and Bulgaria despite the cost of solar and wind energy falling over recent years.
In light of this damming report, Czechia’s Minister of Industry and Trade, Karel Havlíček, hit back, telling Deník N that the Czech plan is, on the contrary, ambitious.
