ITALY

As of December 2025, Italy has 1,230 megawatts (MW) of operating coal power capacity and has retired a total of 5,810 MW of coal-fired capacity since 2000. Coal accounted for only 5% of the country’s electricity generation as of 2021. Italy imports the vast majority of its coal, with limited domestic production concentrated in the Sulcis coal basin in Sardinia, primarily for iron and steelmaking.

Italy joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA) in 2017, the year it was launched, and announced a national coal phaseout date of 2025 as part of its National Energy Strategy. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the government introduced short-term energy security measures in 2022, including regulations allowing Italy’s six key operating coal plants to run at higher capacity until March 2023. In late 2023, Italy revised its coal phaseout timeline, pushing the target date back to 2027 amid potential delays in retiring two power stations in Sardinia. As of December 2025, four coal-fired units remained in operation across two power plants. In 2025, Italy mothballed a combined 3,960 MW of coal-fired capacity at the Brindisi Sud and Torrevaldaliga Nord power stations, opting for mothballing rather than retirement due to energy security considerations.

Italy’s national coal phaseout is situated within the European Union’s updated Nationally Determined Contribution (“NDC 3.0”), submitted in November 2025, which introduces an indicative 2035 emissions reduction target, reinforces the phase-down of unabated coal power, and reaffirms the objective of climate neutrality by 2050.