Greece's use of lignite (aka brown coal) saw a drastic decrease by 49% in 2020 compared to 2019 as per the latest data from the European statistical office Eurostat.
According to Eurostat, the total consumption of lignite in Greece was reduced from 26.62 million tonnes in 2019 to 13.56 million tonnes in 2020. And all this, despite the fact that lignite is mainly used in electricity generation, so its use was not affected as much as other fossil fuels by the effects of the coronavirus on economic activity.
Even more impressive are the data when compared to 2018, since the reduction rate in Greece rises to 63% (note: in 2018 the final consumption approached 36.67 million tons).
The vertical decline in the use of lignite is part of our country's wider effort to change the energy mix, culminating in the government's plan to phase out lignite plants.
It should be noted that decreased in lignite dependence is one of the priorities of the European Union, which aims to become the first environmentally neutral economy in the world by 2050.
Finally, the use of lignite in the EU decreased by a total of 64% between 1990 and 2020.
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