• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
Analyst Sees Oil and Gas Running Short of Cash as IEA Releases Energy Investment Update May 30, 2023
House of Commons Motion, Senate Bill Urge New Climate Rules for Financial Institutions May 30, 2023
13 Canadian Fossils Linked to Massive Losses in Western Wildfires May 30, 2023
Hamilton Plans Heat Bylaw for Rental Housing May 30, 2023
Supreme Court Decision Undercuts U.S. Clean Water Act May 30, 2023
Next
Prev

New Commission Studies ‘Unprecedented’, Orderly Coal Phaseout for Germany

August 14, 2018
Reading time: 2 minutes

pxhere

pxhere

 

A new commission investigating a coal phaseout plan for Germany has received only limited international attention, but could be “the biggest story that no one is talking about” in energy, Greentech Media reports, citing Justin Guay of the San Francisco-based ClimateWorks Foundation.

“The mandate that this commission has been given is really amazing,” said Guay, the foundation’s director of clean air and clean energy. “We’re talking about the leading industrial powerhouse of Europe deciding they’re going to phase out coal in an orderly fashion by a certain date. It’s unprecedented.”

  • Be among the first to read The Energy Mix Weekender
  • A brand new weekly digest containing exclusive and essential climate stories from around the world.
  • The Weekender:The climate news you need.
Subscribe

With 46,000 employees as recently as 2015, “the future of Germany’s coal industry was a major agenda item in the tortuous negotiations that preceded the formation of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s latest coalition government,” Greentech notes. The 30-member German Coal Commission was set up to “help Germany give up coal generation without causing strife”. It’s expected to issue a jobs report in October, followed by a second document on the country’s emission reduction obligations ahead of the 2018 UN climate conference in Katowice, Poland.

Germany’s interest in even considering a phaseout is significant in itself, Guay told GTM. But research has already shown the country can’t meet its Paris targets without mothballing coal plants, “so the second report is widely expected to contain a timetable of closures.” There’s already wide agreement that 10 gigawatts of capacity will have to be shuttered in the near future, while some German utilities “have accepted the reality of closures and are calculating the amount of compensation they might be due.”

While no date for a full phaseout has been set, Greentech says climate advocates are calling for a 2030 deadline. The eventual target is expected to be legislated next year.

“In practical terms, the date and the act of phasing out coal will have virtually no impact on climate change, since Germany’s 46 gigawatts of coal-based generation only represent about 2% of the world’s total,” GTM notes. “But even with the industry on the wane, a German coal phaseout could send a powerful signal to other coal-heavy economies,” just as the country’s earlier nuclear phaseout delivered a wider message.

“It doesn’t matter where you look,” Guay said. “There is no other policy vehicle, no other open, national-level conversation that is anywhere near as important as what’s happening in Germany.”



in Clean Electricity Grid, Coal, Ending Emissions, Jobs & Training, UK & Europe

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

/Piqusels
Finance & Investment

Analyst Sees Oil and Gas Running Short of Cash as IEA Releases Energy Investment Update

May 31, 2023
420
Ryan Turnbull/Facebook
Legal & Regulatory

House of Commons Motion, Senate Bill Urge New Climate Rules for Financial Institutions

May 30, 2023
158
David Dodge, Green Energy Futures/flickr
Jobs & Training

Clean Energy to Add 700,000 New Jobs by 2050, with Alberta in the Lead

May 30, 2023
142

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

/Piqusels

Analyst Sees Oil and Gas Running Short of Cash as IEA Releases Energy Investment Update

May 31, 2023
420
Ryan Turnbull/Facebook

House of Commons Motion, Senate Bill Urge New Climate Rules for Financial Institutions

May 30, 2023
158
Neal Alderson/Twitter

Out-of-Control Wildfire Burns Homes, Forces Evacuations Outside Halifax

May 29, 2023
2.4k
David Dodge, Green Energy Futures/flickr

Clean Energy to Add 700,000 New Jobs by 2050, with Alberta in the Lead

May 30, 2023
142
Martin Davis/Facebook

13 Canadian Fossils Linked to Massive Losses in Western Wildfires

May 30, 2023
544
York Region/flickr

Hamilton Plans Heat Bylaw for Rental Housing

May 31, 2023
396

Recent Posts

Equinor

Equinor Delays Bay du Nord Offshore Oil Project, Blames ‘Volatile’ Markets

May 31, 2023
4
David/flickr

Supreme Court Decision Undercuts U.S. Clean Water Act

May 30, 2023
67
Nicolas Rénac/Flickr

Climate Change to Cut Coffee Growing Lands by Over 50%

May 30, 2023
57
ValiGreceanu/Pixabay

Report Urges Tax Hike for Luxury Air Travel, ‘Pets on Jets’

May 30, 2023
55
Jörg Möller/Pixabay

UK Traffic Calming Strategy Produces Solid Results, Manufactured Anxiety

May 29, 2023
82

Waste Heat from Quebec Data Centre to Grow 80,000 Tonnes of Veggies Per Year

May 29, 2023
115
Next Post
Gage Skidmore/Flickr

U.S. Democrats Reverse Course on Fossil Donation Ban

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}