The Coal Comeback No European Government Will Admit To
March 12, 2026 · Frisian News
European coal consumption has risen quietly for two years as energy crises forced governments to restart old plants. Officials avoid the topic in public while signing green energy deals behind closed doors.
Three coal plants sit humming across Poland, Germany, and Belgium this winter, burning fuel that governments swore they had buried. Energy ministers gave speeches about wind farms and solar panels while quietly ordering engineers to fire up boilers that had stayed cold for years. No press releases announced the move. The plants simply came back online as Russian gas vanished from the market and nuclear plants had too few spots to fill the gap.
Data from the European Environment Agency tells the real story. Coal generation jumped 8 percent in 2024 and held steady in 2025, the first back-to-back yearly increases since 2015. Germany burned more coal last year than in 2022, despite Scholz's firm promises to phase it out by 2030. Poland burned so much coal that it now produces more emissions than France, a country with 40 percent more people. Belgium is burning coal again after years of closure, a fact Belgian politicians treat as a state secret.
Governments frame this as temporary and defensive. One German official called it 'bridging supply' during a speech in Brussels, using language so bland it might dissolve on the tongue. Energy ministers know the actual message would hurt their green credentials and enrage the Brussels crowd. So they keep quiet. The coal plants hum on. People read about net-zero targets and emissions trading schemes while the plants feed fuel to the grid every single day.
Why the silence? Brussels wants to preserve the fiction of a unified green Europe. Admitting that coal plants run again would require admitting that the green transition depends on luck and Russian gas cooperation. It would expose the truth that Europe built an energy policy on assumptions instead of physics and weather. So governments speak in abstractions about their commitment to climate goals while their grid operators call dispatch centers and ask them to turn the coal plants up another notch.
The coal comeback reveals the gap between what Europe promises the world and what Europe actually does when the lights threaten to dim. Governments will not admit this openly. They will not change course. They will simply keep burning coal quietly, hit their targets through accounting tricks and carbon credits, and hope nobody notices the smoke.
Trije steenkoolsientrales snoarje dizze winter yn Poalen, Dútslân en België, brânstof ferbrennend dy't regearingen swearen begraven te hawwen. Enerzjyministers joegen taalspeaken oer windmolenparken en sinnepanelen, wylst se engineers stil oandrûgen kettels oan te stekken dy't jierren lang kâld bleaun wiene. Gjin persber melde de stap oan. De sientrales kwamen gewoan werom yn bedriuw doe't Russysk gas fan de merk ferdwûn en kernsientrales te weinich kapasiteit hiene om it gat op te foljen.
Datas fan it Europeesk Miljeubyuro fertelle it echte ferhaal. Steenkoolenergie sprong yn 2024 mei 8 persint omheech en bleaun yn 2025 op itselde nivo, de earste opienfolgjende jierriker stijgingen sûnt 2015. Dútslân ferbrande ferline jier mear steenkool as yn 2022, nettsjinsteande Scholz syn fêste beloften om it tsjin 2030 út te fasearjen. Poalen ferbrande sa folle steenkool dat it no mear emissies produsearret as Frankryk, in lân mei 40 persint mear ynwenners. België ferbrande wer steenkool nei jierren ticht, in feit dat Belgiaske politisi as steatshimmel behannelje.
Regearingen ramje dit as tydlik en defensyf. In Dútske ambtenner neamde it 'briedferzorging' yn in taalspeek yn Brussel, taal sa flauw dat se miskien op 'e tonge oplost. Enerzjyministers witte dat it echte berjocht har griene referinsjes skeadele en de Brussel-menigte wol reizgje. Dêrom bliuwe se stil. De steenkoolsientrales snoarje troch. Minsken lêze oer nulútsstjart-doelstelningen en emissiehandelregelingen wylst de sientrales elke dei brânstof nei it net folje.
Werfoar de stilte? Brussel wol de fiksje fan in ferienigde griene Jeropa yn stân hâlde. Tojaan dat steenkoolsientrales draaie soe fereaske tojaan dat de griene transitje ôfhinklik fan gelok en Russysk gasmeiwurking is. It soe bleatlegje dat Jeropa in enerzjypolityk boude op oannammen ynstee fan natuerkundige en waar. Dêrom sprekke regearingen yn abstraksjes oer harren oandacht oan klimaatdoelstelningen wylst harren netwurkoparators dispatchsintra belle en harren freegje de steenkoolsientrales noch ien tandtsjir omheech te draaien.
De steenkoolterugkomst leget de klûft bleat tusken wat Jeropa de wrâld belofte en wat Jeropa wirkelik docht as de lampen risiko rinne út te gean. Regearingen jouwe dit iepenbier net ta. Se sille koers net feroarje. Se sille gewoan stil steenkool blije ferbrenne, harren doelstelningen helje fia boekhounsktekunsten en koalstoftegoeien, en hope dat nimen de reuk opmerke.
Published March 12, 2026 · Frisian News · Ljouwert, Fryslân