Press Release

EEB calls upon European leaders to back proposal ending state aid to coal

(Brussels, 20 July 2010) The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) welcomes today’s European Commission’s demand to end state aid to coal in the EU by October 2014. If accepted by the Member States, this would mean a definitive end of an environmentally hazardous subsidy that contradicts an effective fight against climate change.

“As the urgency and need for the EU to invest in a greener economy becomes more compelling, there is little justification in continuing subsidies on coal. Member States should be investing in sustainable energy technologies that can also create and maintain a local workforce“ - said John Hontelez, Secretary General of the EEB.

The EEB, the largest federation of environmental citizens’ organisations in Europe, has long campaigned for the abolition of EU environmentally harmful subsidies. Also in response to the employment concerns this will create in some regions (parts of Spain, Germany and Poland) it calls upon the relevant governments to use the budgetary savings to strongly invest in energy savings and renewable energy production activities, in particular in those regions.

The EEB calls upon Member States to support the proposal and consider it as part of an ambitious and credible upgrading of EU’s efforts to tackle climate change and energy security.

Commission Press Release http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/10/984

For more info contact:
Catherine Pearce, EEB senior policy officer +32 (0) 2 289 13 02 (direct) catherine.pearce@eeb.org