This Country Will Say Goodbye to Coal Five Years Early

Hungary has decided to close its last coal power plant in 2025, five years before it was first planned, as the country wishes to reach 90% carbon neutral electricity by 2030, a decision green activists hail as a big win.

“The Hungarian government’s decision to halve the time it will take to exit coal tells you everything you need to know about the state of Europe’s collapsing coal industry,” says Kathrin Gutmann, campaign director at Europe Beyond Coal. “It shows that when governments actually stop and look at the cold hard economic and political realities of coal, not only do they want to get rid of it – they decide to do so as quickly as possible.”

In order to achieve neutrality by 2050 as agreed among the European Union members, Hungary intends to maintain its existing nuclear generation capacity, increase its solar power generation to 6GW, and phase out the Matra coal power plant, the country’s last, by 2025.