Hard stance may backfire

Hard measures: The cooling towers of a coal power plant in Germany. A new sanction package prepared by the EU against Russia is set to include oil and coal imports. — AP

LONDON: Europe is taking a big gamble as it moves to ban Russian coal, potentially leaving itself vulnerable to shortages and rolling blackouts while the rest of the world contends with surging prices.

Russia is Europe’s top supplier of thermal coal, used to fuel power stations. As the European Union (EU) joins the United States to take a harder stance against Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, the continent has plans to phase out Russian shipments.