Coal, nuclear phase-out plan finalised

GERMAN lawmakers have finalised the country’s long-awaited phase-out of coal as an energy source, backing a plan that environmental groups say isn’t ambitious enough and free marketeers criticise as a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Bills approved by both houses of parliament yesterday envision shutting down the last coal-fired power plant by 2038 and spending some €40 billion (R767bn) to help affected regions cope with the transition. The plan is part of Germany’s “energy transition” – an effort to wean Europe’s biggest economy off planet-warming fossil fuels and generate all of the country’s considerable energy needs from renewable sources.

Achieving that goal is made harder than in comparable countries such as France and Britain because of Germany’s commitment to also phase out nuclear power by the end of 2022.

“The days of coal are numbered in Germany,” Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said. “Germany is the first industrialised country that leaves behind both nuclear energy and coal.”

Greenpeace and other environmental groups are protesting against the plan, including by dropping a banner down the front of the Reichstag building yesterday.

They argue that the government’s road map won’t reduce greenhouse gas emissions fast enough to meet the targets set out in the Paris climate accord.