Four in five of Europe’s coal-fired power plants are unprofitable, with the potential for €6.6bn of losses in total for their owners this year, according to a new report.

EU coal generators are “haemorrhaging cash” because they cannot compete with cheap renewables and gas, said Matt Gray of Carbon Tracker, the think-tank that compiled the report, according to Financial Times. “Unless there’s dramatic changes, then these losses could be sustained.”

Coal-fired power has been hit by the rising price of EU carbon credits — allowances that industries must buy if their CO2 emissions are above a certain level. The cost of these credits has tripled since 2017 to more than 25 euro per tonne of CO2.

Carbon Tracker said its findings are a warning to investors and policymakers to prepare for the closure of coal-fired power across the continent by 2030. Of the EU’s 154.4GW of coal capacity, 45 per cent is already scheduled to shut down by 2030, with 13 member states committed to a complete phasing out by then, according to lobby group Beyond Coal Europe. Seven countries have made no commitment at all on coal-fired power.