Coal embargo now in force - search for alternatives underway

Created: 08/11/2022, 10:40 am

By: Patricia Huber

The coal embargo against Russia has now come into force.

But the waiver is becoming a problem, especially for one of our neighboring countries.

Brussels – The EU countries are now no longer allowed to import coal from Russia.

At midnight from Wednesday to Thursday, the transition period for the coal embargo against Russia, which the EU states had decided on as part of the fifth sanctions package in April, ended.

At the time, the countries had agreed on a transitional period of 120 days so that the industry could adapt to the import ban.

Coal embargo: The search for new suppliers

That deadline is now over.

But what's next?

Can Germany just do without Russian coal completely?

A problem is emerging: the demand for coal has increased.

Because of an impending power shortage, the federal government has decided to temporarily connect old coal-fired power plants again.

Other countries such as Austria and Italy also want to use more coal again.

In Germany, according to the analysis company Rystad Energy, electricity generated from coal rose by 20 percent in the first five months of this year.

Therefore, Europeans are now forced to look for new coal suppliers.

The USA, Australia and Indonesia are ideal here.

According to the Economics Ministry, Germany is now getting more of the fossil fuel from South Africa and Colombia.

Coal embargo particularly problematic for Poland

But for some countries it could still be problematic - especially for our neighbor Poland.

The country is still highly dependent on coal for energy production.

Although it also produces the raw material itself, most of the imports have so far come from Russia.

Warsaw had already imposed its own import ban on Russian coal in mid-April, which led to bottlenecks and massive price increases.

A ton of coal costs four times as much today as it did a year ago.

In the meantime, prices have been capped and purchases for private consumers have been rationed.

The Polish government said it would secure supplies from other countries.

However, the limited capacities of ports, railways and waterways make this difficult and concerns about winter supplies are increasing.

A one-off subsidy for coal-heated households is planned.