EU methane regulation threatens coking coal: Polish miners

The EU’s proposed methane regulation threatens the existence of coking coal mines in Poland, Europe’s largest producer of the critical raw material, a group of Polish mining executives writes in an open letter to the European Parliament.

Last December, the EU Council agreed a proposal to slash methane emissions. In the coal sector, flaring is proposed to be banned from 1 January 2025 and venting will be banned in non-coking coal mines emitting more than 5 tonnes of methane/kilotonne of coal mined, from 1 January 2027. From 2031, this would be extended to all coal mines, including coking coal, emitting more than 3 tonnes of methane/kilotonne of coal mined, Kallanish notes.

The presidents of thermal coal miners PGG and Tauron, as well as Wojciech Kaluza, development director at coking coal miner Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa (JSW), say in the letter the regulation would lead to the closure of seven PGG and Tauron mines within three years. A further two PGG mines would then close three years later. As for the later coking coal mine restrictions, “this is all the more dangerous as coking coal deposits are characterised by much higher methane levels”, the letter states.

The move would result in the overall loss of 50,000 jobs in the mining industry and 200,000 jobs in industries dependent on it, the executives say.

Poland accounts for 95% of EU hard coal mining. “The emission limits included in the project are impossible to meet in any deep mine with methane deposits,” the letter states. “The mines threatened with closure are among modern mining facilities that have been improving the efficiency of demethanation for years.”

Two years ago, Poland agreed a social contract with a timetable for the liquidation of the country’s coal mining industry until 2049. “The new methane regulations nullify the entire programme for a just and sustainable transition, forcing the abrupt acceleration of mine closures by several decades and without proper preparation,” the executives argue.

They add that the proposed regulation will not reduce global methane emissions, but simply shift them to other regions as tonnages imported into the EU will be exempt from strict methane emission declarations.

Almost half the mines threatened by the methane regulation produce coking coal, essential for steel production. The mines listed are the only EU producers of this type of coal and cover 25% of needs. Their closure will make it necessary to increase imports, which already meet 75% of consumption, and will lead to total EU dependence on external supplies in a situation where existing supply chains are drastically disrupted, the executives observe.

“It is clear that without the steel industry and cheap energy, it will be impossible, among other things, to pursue the development of renewable energy sources and an ambitious energy transition, which means that initiatives such as the methane regulation are simply like sawing off the branch on which one is sitting,” the letter concludes.

Adam Smith Poland