We have expanded the list of climate policies we assess company engagement with to incorporate land-use related policy, referring to legislative or regulatory measures to enhance and protect ecosystems and land where carbon is being stored. Assessments under this category are currently underweighted in terms of their contribution to the overall company metrics. This weighting will be progressively increased over the next 6 months.
We adjusted the terminology used to describe the queries running down the left-hand side of our scoring matrix and added additional explanatory text to the info-boxes. This has no impact on the scores and methodology. It has been done following user feedback to improve clarity.
Climate Lobbying Overview: Euracoal does not appear to support ambitious climate policy, and has negatively engaged on key EU climate regulations such as the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). Euracoal also appears unsupportive of the energy transition and continues to promote a role for coal in the energy mix.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Euracoal does not appear fully supportive of ambitious climate action in its top-line communications. Euracoal expressed support for the UN Paris Agreement on its corporate website, accessed in February 2023. However, the organization did not appear to support urgent action on climate change on its Key Messages page, accessed in February 2023, wherein it supported pathways that heavily rely on technology such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the long-term. Euracoal's disclosure on climate science, accessible on its corporate website as of February 2023, appears to suggest ambiguity around the predicted impacts of climate change.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Euracoal appears to take predominantly negative positions on specific climate-related regulations in the EU. In a June 2022 consultation response to the EU Commission, the association did express broad support for the EU emissions trading system (ETS). However, according to its main website, accessed in February 2023, Euracoal did not support reforms to the EU ETS that would increase the price of carbon, instead appearing to show support for the free allocation of emissions allowances. Euracoal also did not appear to support a revision of the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) in a June 2022 EU consultation response, which would extend existing pollution regulations to account for GHG emissions.
Furthermore, Euracoal appeared to advocate for the inclusion of fossil fuels in heating and cooling energy taxonomies in the Renewable Energy Directive reform in an October 2021 consultation response to the EU Commission, and also advocated against an increase in sector-specific renewable energy sub-targets by 2030. However, in contrast to its positions on emissions trading, Euracoal does appear to support some legislation on reducing GHG emissions. In a January 2021 position paper, the association supported GHG reduction targets for all EU sectors, and in an April 2021 position paper Euracoal supported methane emission reduction programs in the EU.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Euracoal has been consistently unsupportive of the energy transition in 2020-23, with continued promotion of coal in the current and future energy mix. In February 2023, the company stated on its website that "coal will be used for many decades to come”, and that “clean coal ... will be needed to meet the forecast growth in demand.” Clean coal is often referenced as a low-carbon solution, however it relies on the capture of carbon emissions from the burning of coal, a technique that requires investments in carbon capture. In a January 2022 position paper, the association supported the continued role of coal in the EU, referencing coal’s role in filling gaps in renewable power generation “over the coming years.”
Euracoal President Vladimír Budinský also explicitly supported the long-term role of coal in the energy mix in a March 2022 statement on the association’s website. Budinský called for an end to the “war on coal”, and also supported the diversification of the European energy mix away from dependency on Russian fossil fuels by supporting the use of existing coal infrastructure.