According to unofficial sources, the Croatian Government plans to accelerate its initial coal phase-out schedule by moving the deadline to between 2030 and 2035.
New coal phase-out deadline was announced by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic during his speech at climate conference COP26 in Glasgow. By adopting an earlier deadline than planned to phase out the use of coal in electricity generation, Croatia has in fact joined the dominant trend among developed countries, especially EU member states, where abandoning fossil fuels use is considered a key first step in the fight to radically reduce carbon dioxide emissions and prevent climate change.
Croatia doesn’t have a clearly defined legal deadline for ending the use of coal, but from the current national Low-Carbon Strategy it could be observed that there are no plans to use coal after 2040. This deadline was also defined by the fact that the operational life of sole coal-fired power plant in the country – Plomin B expires in 2040.
However, it seems that the power plant, at least in its current state, will have to be shut down much earlier. Although the decision to abandon the use of coal in electricity generation earlier was presented primarily as part of the national climate policy, it should be said that there is a strong economic rationality behind it. Coal-fired power plants in the EU have been exposed to significant burdens in recent years, which often make their operation unprofitable. This primarily refers to the rapid growth of the price of carbon emissions – a cost that, due to the high share of carbon in coal, burdens coal power plants significantly more than similar plants running on natural gas.
