New Coalition Aims To Take Europe Beyond Coal

BONN, Germany, Nov. 2 -- A new coalition is launching a joint effort today to urge 28 European countries to dramatically accelerate their transition away from coal and toward clean, renewable energy. With the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Finland, France, Italy and Portugal committing to closing their remaining coal plants in the coming decade, Europe Beyond Coal is working to making this transition to a healthier world as swift as possible. Leaders of a sister campaign in the US, the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, welcomed the news.  

In response, Mary Anne Hitt, director of the Beyond Coal Campaign at Sierra Club, issued the following statement:

“The US Beyond Coal Campaign welcomes the launch of Europe Beyond Coal. The movement to take the world Beyond Coal is growing, and we’re excited to see this new coalition launch a pan-Europe campaign to take this work to the next level across the entire continent. With several European countries already committed to phase out coal, this new coalition will build on that success and accelerate its progress and ambition -- with a clear-eyed goal to ensure a coal-free Europe no later than 2030. Because pollution doesn’t respect borders, neither do the all-too-real health and climate consequences burning coal creates around the world. Coal is estimated to have caused 19,500 premature deaths across Europe in 2015 and 13,200 deaths in the US in 2009 alone. Here in the US, we are retiring coal plants at the same rate under the Trump Administration as we did during the Obama years, and that continued progress is essential to tackling the climate crisis and saving lives cut short by pollution. We look forward to increasing our collaboration with this campaign across the Atlantic, to build a better world together.”