In the EU coal falls to 9.2 per cent of electricity generated

In 2025 coal accounted for 9.2 per cent of the European Union's gross electricity generation. It is the lowest level ever recorded. The figure comes from Eurostat.

It combines two distinct sources. Hard coal made up 3.7 per cent of the total, or 105,601 gigawatt hours, while lignite stood at 5.5 per cent, or 154,186 gigawatt hours. In 2024 the combined share fell below ten per cent for the first time, and in 2025 it declined further.

Thirty-five years of decline

Comparison with the past shows the scale of the change. In 1990 coal accounted for more than a third of all electricity produced in the Union. By 2000 the share had already fallen to 30.4 per cent. The trend continued steadily, with only slight recoveries between 2011 and 2012 and between 2021 and 2022, the latter linked to the energy crisis that followed the invasion of Ukraine.

The relative position of the two sources has changed as well. In 1990 hard coal and lignite were the second and third largest sources of electricity generation, at 19.8 and 15.3 per cent. By 2025 they had fallen to seventh and sixth place, behind nuclear power, natural gas and renewable fuels.

Eurostat also lists the sequence in which they were overtaken. Both types of coal were passed by nuclear power in 1994, by natural gas in 2019, by hydro and wind power in 2023 and by solar power in 2024. Photovoltaics took a little over a decade to go from a marginal source to generating more electricity than coal.

For Switzerland the figure matters indirectly but concretely. The country is connected to the European grid and imports electricity above all in the winter months, when hydropower output falls. The generation mix of neighbouring countries therefore determines both the price and the emissions content of the energy that crosses the border.