In 2025, hard coal represented 3.7% (105,601 Gigawatt-hour (GWh)) of the EU’s total gross electricity production, and brown coal represented 5.5% (154,186 GWh). In 2024, the total coal share in electricity production went below 10% for the first time and in 2025, it decreased further to its lowest point at 9.2%.
In 1990, coal represented more than a third of all electricity production in the EU. In 2000, the total coal share decreased to 30.4%, a trend that continued with only slight rebounds in 2011-2012 and 2021-2022, until it reached its lowest share in 2025.
In 1990, hard coal and brown coal were the second and third largest sources of electricity production, with 19.8% and 15.3% of the gross production, respectively. In contrast, in 2025, hard coal and brown coal were the seventh and sixth sources of electricity generation, behind nuclear heat, natural gas and renewable fuels. Both types of coal were overtaken by nuclear heat in 1994, by natural gas in 2019, by hydro and wind in 2023 and by solar in 2024.
Source dataset: nrg_bal_peh
Coal complete phaseout continues in many countries
The decrease in coal use for electricity generation is coupled with record lows in production and consumption of coal. In 2025, the consumption of hard coal and brown coal in the EU is estimated to have reached new historical lows, at 107 million tonnes and 184 million tonnes, respectively.
In addition, some EU countries have been phasing out coal either entirely or in electricity and heat generation in recent years. In 2021, Portugal stopped using hard coal in electricity generation, and in 2024, Slovakia phased out production of brown coal, leaving 8 EU countries remaining as brown coal producers.
For more information
- Statistics Explained on coal production and consumption
- Thematic section on energy statistics
- Database on energy statistics
- Shedding light on energy in Europe – 2026 edition
- Webinar on energy statistics
- Energy dashboard
Methodological notes
In the context of this article, coal refers to primary coal products (hard coal + brown coal) and excludes secondary coal products (e.g. coke, oven coke), manufactured gases and other solid fossil fuels (peat and peat products, oil shale and oil sands).
