Poland's government and unions on Wednesday reached a draft agreement to shut all coal mines by 2049, with severance payments for 120,000 workers and funds for the Silesia coal basin.

A statement by the state assets ministry, which negotiated on behalf of the government, hailed the deal as an "historic agreement".

But Dominik Kolorz, head of a local branch of the Solidarity union, was quoted by Gazeta Wyborcza as saying: "It is hard to be satisfied when you are liquidating such an important industry.

"We did what we needed to do, which was to assist the workers," Kolorz said, adding: "It's not like everything ends today. We have a lot of work to do to create alternative jobs."

Coal sector employment has traditionally been a politically sensitive issue in Poland, a country of 38 million people where miners and their families are still a powerful voting bloc.

The agreement still has to be formally signed and submitted to the European Commission for state aid approval.

Poland currently depends on coal for around 70 percent of its energy needs and is planning to reduce this to 11 percent by 2040 before phasing out coal entirely before the EU deadline of 2050.

Environmental groups have urged the government to move even faster to tackle one of Europe's worst pollution problems.

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South Korea ends aid for coal plants overseas
Washington (AFP) April 22, 2021
South Korea will stop funding coal-powered plants overseas, President Moon Jae-in told a US-led summit Thursday, as he vowed a larger role in fighting climate change. The progressive president said he was expanding a decision at home to phase out coal, the dirtiest form of energy. "Korea will end our public financing for overseas, coal-fired power plants," Moon told the summit convened by President Joe Biden. "It is imperative for the world to slow down coal-fired power plants, although deve ... read more