Coking coal will stay on the list of raw materials critical for the European Union after Poland, a key producer of the energy source, succeeded in persuading the Commission after the latter published its proposal for a new Critical Raw Materials Act.

Of key importance to Poland, coking coal serves the production of steel used, among other things, in wind turbines. Polish company Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa S.A. is the EU’s largest producer of that material.

“We succeeded! Coking coal (will remain) a raw material in the European Union. I am pleased that the European Commission again acceded to my appeal – especially when we cut off Russian energy sources and are accelerating the green transition,” tweeted Jerzy Buzek, a former European Parliament President and currently MEP from the opposition Civic Coalition (PO, EPP).

The Commission’s decision to allow coking coal to remain on the list since 2014 would facilitate gaining EU funds for future investments connected to coking coal and creating jobs, said Buzek.

Coking coal is also essential for Poland’s metal-forming industry. At the same time, steel is needed for the building of wind turbines, solar instalments and the development of the railway industry, the MEP added, quoted by Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.

The Commission publishes its Critical Raw Materials list from 2011 and updates it every four years with materials that “are crucial to technologies important to Europe’s green and digital ambitions and for defence and space applications,” the Commission said.

The Critical Raw Materials Act, associated with the list of critical raw materials, sets clear benchmarks for domestic capacities along the strategic raw material supply chain and to diversify EU supply by 2030: at least 10% of the EU’s annual consumption for extraction, at least 40% of the EU’s annual consumption for processing, at least 15% of the EU’s annual consumption for recycling and not more than 65% of the Union’s annual consumption of each strategic raw material at any relevant stage of processing from a single third country.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | EURACTIV.pl)