The Bundestag sets a timetable to decommission Germany’s last coal-fired power stations
Signed by almost 200 countries in 2015, the Paris Climate Agreement set out a path to net zero by 2050: the first year in which no CO2 emissions are to be released into the atmosphere. In an attempt to hit this target, the German government set up the Commission for Growth, Structural Change and Employment – known as the “Coal Commission” – in 2018 to draw up a timetable for phasing out coal in electricity generation and to implement mechanisms to facilitate this transition.
After voting to end the use of coal in power generation by 2038 through the Coal Phase-Out Act passed on 3 July 2020, the Bundestag then voted to spend some 40 billion euros to mitigate the social and economic impact of the transition on the regions affected. Despite the ambitious nature of the coal phase-out plan, environmental pressure groups have complained that it has not only been watered down in scope but also is being implemented too slowly.
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