EPH
Czech company EPH is one of Europe’s largest polluters. In recent years, it has found a new way of drawing money from state budgets. EPH owned the German coal company LEAG until 2023 and sold MIBRAG in 2025 to its sister company EP Energy Transition. According to German law, EPH will now receive substantial government compensations for the “early” closure of LEAG’s and MIBRAG’s coal assets. EPH’s subsidiary LEAG will receive €1.75 billion of taxpayers’ money for shutting down its coal plants in 2038. At the same time, LEAG is currently in the process of expanding its coal mine Nochten. The mine will destroy the neighboring village of Mühlrose. 200 people have lost their homes to the mine.
Taking a look at GCEL, it still seems as if EPH's coal business has drastically decreased. The company produces only 5% of its power from coal, compared to 53% in 2022. As of 2025 EPH successfully divested from its lignite mines and is no longer involved in coal production. But its coal business hasn’t disappeared, EPH simply transferred its coal assets to a sister company it created for this purpose: EP Energy Transition. EP Energy Transition operates independently from EPH but shares the same owner, the Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský.
According to mining law in Germany, companies have to rehabilitate coal mines once they close them down. It takes billions of dollars to shut down mines and restore the environment. By transferring its coal assets to EP Energy Transition, EPH appears to be attempting to avoid their legal responsibility to finance the rehabilitation of their German coal mines.
This is the perfect PR stunt for EPH. It appears environmentally friendly to the public and receives massive compensation payments for shutting down coal mines early. Meanwhile, the phase-out of fossil fuels becomes increasingly distant. In 2026 EPH submitted its bid to acquire German’s gas supplier Uniper. A few months earlier the company announced a new joint venture with TotalEnergies aiming to develop gas-fired power in Europe. Ultimately, EPH is re-using the same trick: buying out unprofitable fossil fuel assets, while hiding behind empty decarbonization promises.
