Greenpeace’s Martin Kaiser, who was on the German coal exit commission, explains what its conclusions were and why they were made
Last year the German government convened a 24-person commission to work out how the country could wean itself off coal power, and by when. This week the group delivered its verdict: quit coal entirely by 2038. So is this good news? Greenpeace’s Martin Kaiser (who sat on the commission) isn’t popping champagne, but he explains that this is nevertheless an important moment in Germany’s journey to decarbonisation – and there’s still room to speed things up.
The 2038 phase-out date fails to meet the Paris Agreement’s climate target and was voted against by the environmental groups on the commission (including Greenpeace).
And the speed of the phase out between 2022 and 2030 is far too slow, which again the three NGOs within the commission voted against.
Finally, although Hambacher forest can finally be spared from RWE’s mining plans due to the planned lignite reductions, there was a glaring absence of any statement about how all threatened villages must be saved.
The country’s stalling emissions showed that it’s not enough to boost renewables if you leave an aging brown coal fleet untouched. These plants are cheap, old(some are more than 50 yrs old) and hard to compete with economically, but also very dirty (a brown coal plant emits about three times more CO2 compared to a modern gas power plant.) Now the renewables boom can start to become a success for the climate.
Germany, the world’s fourth-largest economy, is moving into a decarbonized future without relying on nukes and that’s obviously a big deal.
With the coal phase out in place the path is cleared to eventually focus on other key areas of decarbonisation such as transport.
