Coal sourcing

Vattenfall's goal is fossil freedom and we have a clear plan for phasing out fossil fuels in our business. Consequently, our consumption of hard coal decreased from 7 million tons in 2017 to approximately 730 thousand tons in 2023. With the sale of Heat Berlin, we will completely step out of operating hard coal plants.

The coal that we sourced in 2023 for our two remaining coal plants in Berlin originated from South Africa (96.4 percent) and the US (0.6 percent).

Bettercoal

We are a founding member of Bettercoal. As a common platform for energy utilities, trade unions, NGOs and coal mining companies, Bettercoal works towards a global responsible coal supply chain.

The initiative assesses the sustainability performance of coal mining operations against the principles of the Bettercoal Code, a globally accepted standard for sourcing coal, and promotes continuous improvements.
Bettercoal (PDF 122 kB)

Sourcing from Colombia

Vattenfall has sourced hard coal from Colombia for many years. In 2019 we received the last delivery of Colombian coal. We do no longer source coal from Colombia and have no plans to start purchasing in the future again.
Vattenfall in Colombia (PDF 710 kB)

In 2017, we ran an extensive on-site Human Rights Impact Assessment to identify possible human rights risks through our coal procurement activities in Colombia. We publish this report and continuous updates on this webpage.

A human rights risk assessment in Colombia - November 2017 (PDF 2 MB)
In Spanish:  Evaluación de riesgos para los derechos humanos en Colombia – Noviembre 2017 (PDF 2 MB)

We published regular updates on how we are progressing with our work with Colombian mining companies:

Human Rights Risk Assessment in Colombia – update July 2018 (PDF 130 kB)
In Spanish: Evaluación de los riesgos relacionados con los derechos humanos en Colombia. Actualización de julio de 2018 (PDF 133 kB)

Human Rights Risk Assessment in Colombia – update January 2019 (PDF 157 kB)
In Spanish:  Evaluación de los riesgos relacionados con los derechos humanos en Colombia. Actualización de Enero de 2019  (PDF 151 kB)

Human Rights Risk Assessment in Colombia – update September 2019 (PDF 140 kB)
In Spanish: Evaluación de los riesgos relacionados con los derechos humanos en Colombia – actualización de septiembre de 2019 (PFD 153 kB)

Human Rights Risk Assessment in Colombia – update June 2021 (PDF 498 kB)
In Spanish: Evaluación de riesgos para los derechos humanos en Colombia – de junio de 2021 (PDF 514 kB)

We aim to contribute to continuous improvements in hard coal producing countries in dialogue with relevant stakeholders. Please don't hesitate to contact us: press@vattenfall.com