European leaders planned to phase out Russian coal imports in response to horrific scenes in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv.
On Tuesday, the European Commission proposed a phased ban on Russian coal imports worth 4 billion euros ($ 4.3 billion) a year as part of a fifth package of sanctions designed to further reduce the military basket of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Other proposals focus on imports of Russian technology and production worth another 10 billion euros ($ 10.9 billion).
Europe has imposed sanctions on the Russian economy since Putin’s tanks entered Ukraine in late February, but has not targeted Russia’s energy sector so far. Pictures of unarmed civilians tied up and shot dead on Bucha’s roads, which until recently were under Russian occupation, have convinced leaders to change direction.
More details on the new round of sanctions, including the timetable for banning coal, are expected on Wednesday, when EU ambassadors meet for talks. The measures still need approval from all 27 member states.
Sanctioning coal will affect some European countries, but it is one of the easiest sources of energy to get rid of – much of the world is already doing just that. The more complicated question is: What happens next?
How much Russian coal goes to Europe? Russia was the world’s third-largest coal exporter in 2020, after Australia and Indonesia, according to the International Energy Agency, with Europe being its largest customer.
In the same year, the continent received 57 million tons of Russian coal, compared to 31 million tons for China, according to IEA data. That’s more than half of Europe’s coal this year, according to Eurostat.
But the EU has already given up the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel.
The amount of electricity generated by coal has steadily decreased throughout the unit in recent years, falling by 29% between 2017 and 2019, according to an analysis by the energy think tank Ember.
And despite a brief rise last year, when gas prices reached record highs, the IEA expects European coal demand to resume its steady decline. Total imports were expected to fall by 6% by 2024, even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Other countries could intervene to buy Russian coal. The IEA expects coal imports in India to grow by 4% in 2024 and by more than 6% in Southeast Asia. Russia has already taken advantage of the jump in exports to China after blocking Xi Jinping for Australian imports, the agency said in a report in December.
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