According to Eurostat, the constant decline in coal consumption (including both hard coal and brown coal) in the European Union since 1990 accelerated in the last two years and fell by more than 1/3 between 2018 and 2020: brown coal (mostly lignite) consumption decreased by 33%, while hard coal consumption by 35% over this two-year period. In 2020, hard coal consumption averaged 144 Mt, i.e. 63% less than in 1990, due to the continuous shift towards gas and renewables in the power sector, and to the lower production of coke used for iron and steel production. As well, the EU consumption of brown coal declined to 246 Mt in 2020, i.e. 64% less than in 1990, as a result of the coal-to-gas substitution trend in power generation. In 2020, six countries accounted for 95% of brown coal consumption, namely Germany (44%), Poland (19%), Czechia (12%), Bulgaria, Romania and Greece. These countries are coal producers and using their domestic resources to generate power.
Hard coal production has fallen significantly, by 80% between 1990 and 2020 to 56 Mt in 2020, and the number of producing countries has contracted too, from 13 to 2 EU countries in 2020: Poland, which accounted for 96% of the total EU production, and Czechia (4%).