Merkel rejects demands for earlier end date for German coal

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday rejected demands to bring forward the 2038 exit date for ending coal generation in Germany.

"Those affected need some reliability on the path to climate neutrality," Merkel said. "I don't want to unravel this again after one year."

The coal phase-out law was passed in Germany in July 2020, 18 months after the recommendation by the coal exit commission that coal-fired power should be ended by 2038 at the latest.

The country is somewhat late to the table on the issue when compared with many other EU nations, most of which have a 2030 end date. Others, namely Austria and Belgium, have already removed coal from their energy mix entirely.

Read more: Brussels investigates German compensation plan for coal power

There are increasing concerns in Germany around the carbon emissions and other air pollution caused by the burning of coal. The industry is also facing economic problems as carbon prices in Europe continue to rise to historic highs.

"The time of coal-fired power plants is coming to an end, and many units are no longer profitable. These market trends need to be reflected in national strategies," said a report by the energy think tank Agora Energiewende.

In an interview with Euractiv, Philipp Litz, one of the report's co-authors said that in reality hard coal has not been profitable in Germany since the 1970s, and has been kept afloat by 40 years of subsidies.

Climate activists say that without an earlier coal phase-out, the more ambitious climate protection targets which Merkel’s government just agreed on cannot be achieved.

Read more: Germany revises emissions targets after constitutional court ruling

The draft law, which stipulates that Germany aims for a 65% cut in carbon emissions by 2030 and net-zero by 2045, up from a previous 55% for 2030 and net-zero by 2050 came after a court ruling last month which found that a 2019 law failed to ensure sufficient climate protection and jeopardised future generations.

Germany is one of the top three consumers of coal-fired power in the EU, along with Poland and the Czech Republic.

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