The European Union have agreed to phase out almost all coal subsidies by 2025 at the latest. There is, however, one fairly significant caveat: Poland, the most coal dependent of member states, will be allowed to have some grandfather rights in contracts made before the end of December 2019. While hardly ideal, it seems this particular clause was necessary to prevent Poland from holding out and collapsing the deal altogether.
This deal isn’t enough to avert climate crisis. But it’s one of the steps that needs to happen to get us there.
