In the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), it is often assumed that intelligent life on an Earth-like exoplanet would inevitably develop the technological means for interstellar communication. This assumption ignores the critical role that fossil fuels played in driving the Industrial Revolution on Earth, which ultimately gave rise to our own advanced technological civilization (ATC) and the possibility of interstellar communication. We therefore propose that any habitable exoplanet that could potentially generate an ATC must contain sizable fossil fuel deposits, especially coal, which supplied most of the energy used in the Industrial Revolution during the 19th century. Coal is critical because, based on an Earth-like geology, it is more accessible than the much deeper deposits of oil and gas. Without coal, it would have been impossible to tap into the vast underground deposits of oil and gas during the 20th century. This raises the question of the inevitability of coal formation on an Earth-like exoplanet. Here we present arguments that coal formation may be unlikely, even on an Earth-like planet, because of the many contingent factors that have been recorded in the rock and biological record of our own planet, including the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis itself, which generated the oxygen-rich atmosphere required for complex life to develop. Central to our argument is the host of highly contingent taphonomic factors, involving plate tectonics and climate, that were required to convert the tropical lycopsid swamp forests of the Pangean supercontinent to the massive coal deposits of the Carboniferous period. Finally, we discuss the need for synchronicity of the appearance of intelligent life forms and the maturation of vast deposits of coal. We conclude that the large number of contingencies involved in coal production justifies adding a term for coal to the Drake Equation for the number of ATCs in the galaxy.

Since its foundation in 2001, EANA (European Astrobiology Network Association, http://www.eana-net.eu/) has organized annual meetings to foster and strengthen the astrobiology community within Europe. The growth of the European astrobiology community over the years is reflected not only in the growing participation at the annual EANA meeting but also in the foundation of the graduate network AbGradE (Astrobiology Graduates in Europe, https://abgrade.eu/) with many activities, meetings and workshops organized since 2014, including several joint events with EPEC (the EuroPlanet Early Career network), as well as the foundation of the European Astrobiology Institute (EAI) in 2019.

The EANA Executive Council consists of national representatives from currently 21 European (and affiliated) countries with active astrobiology groups, networks or societies, as well as representatives of the early-career AbGradE network. The EANA network and especially the Executive Council therefore directly promote a broad and diverse representation of many career stages as well as nationalities including normally underrepresented countries. After more than two decades of a formal astrobiology network in Europe, it is time to explore and evaluate the actual obtained diversity within EANA and AbGradE with respect to nationality, gender and career status of our members based on our annual meeting participation, and to reflect on future measures to further improve the diversity and inclusiveness of our networks and events.

We find that while our annual events are very diverse with respect to career stage, gender and research disciplines, a few aspects leave room for improvement, including especially a more balanced representation of different countries with astrobiology research within Europe and beyond. We discuss different equality, diversity and inclusivity measures that can be implemented for future EANA and AbGradE meetings in Europe to better represent the full astrobiology community within our networks.