German plan to dump coal would cost a cool $64 billion

Berlin:  Germany will spend tens of billions of dollars to end its use of coal power within two decades, if a plan agreed to  by representatives of the power industry, environmental movement, miners and local interest groups becomes official policy.

The deal, hammered on Saturday out after more than 20 hours of intense, often fractious negotiating among a 28-member commission appointed last year by Chancellor Angela Merkel, would be one of the most significant energy transformations a nation has yet attempted in the face of climate change.

Protesters hold a poster before the meeting of a panel of experts on the exit of the use of coal in Germany on Friday.Credit:AP

Still, a majority of Germans have said they want their country to quit coal and uphold their commitments to the Paris Climate Accord — to reduce carbon emissions by 80 per cent to 95 per cent by 2050.

And the negotiation process, which brought together disparate interest groups with orders to find a consensus, was designed to minimise the potential for a backlash against efforts to curb emissions, like the Yellow Vests protests in France, or a repeat of the bitter disputes over the fate of a strip of woodland in western Germany threatened by a coal mine last year.

"This is a historic effort," Ronald Pofalla, head of the commission, told reporters in Berlin, stressing that each of the interest groups had accepted concessions with an eye to achieving a result. "I would hope that the conflicts of recent years will now no longer be necessary, because dialogue within society contributed to reaching a consensus."

Coal remains the single largest source of energy to generate electricity worldwide, although renewable sources like solar and wind power are rapidly becoming more affordable. But coal is incumbent — and cheap — making it the go-to energy source for rapidly growing countries or those whose industrial backbones were built on burning it.

The Welzow-Sud open-cast coal mine in Germany’s Brandenburg state. Germany will spend tens of billions of dollars to end its use of coal power within two decades, if a January 2019 plan agreed to by representatives of the power industry, environmental movement, miners and local interest groups becomes official policy. Credit:The New York Times

Germany accounts for about 2 per cent of Australia's coal exports, valued at about $750 million in 2014.

"The whole world is watching how Germany — a nation based on industry and engineering, the fourth largest economy on our planet — is taking the historic decision of phasing out coal," said Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

"This can help end the age of finger-pointing, the age of too many governments saying: Why should we act, if others don't? Germany is acting, even if the commission's decision is not flawless."

German environmentalists had hoped for a plan that would end coal use by 2030, but said a less ambitious goal could be an acceptable trade-off for a consensus that would allow the aim to be achieved.

"It is better to have bad climate protection, than no climate protection," said Kai Niebert, president of the German environmental organisation DNR and professor of sustainability at the University of Zurich, who was a member of the commission.

A bucket wheel digs for coal near the Hambach Forest near Dueren, Germany.Credit:AP

"This plan will make it possible to achieve climate change goals set by the German government, but it will also, and this is important, achieve affordable and secure energy supplies if the German government implements our recommendations," said Barbara Praetorius, an environmental professor who served as one of the four leaders of the commission.

"A large majority of the population stands behind this exit from coal," she said. "But it must be reliable, affordable and acceptable for the regions."

Here is a summary of the deal's key points.

• The plan calls for about a quarter of Germany's coal plants — 12.5 gigawatts' worth — to shut by 2022. The commission refrained from naming specific plants, leaving that decision to power companies.

• Reviews of those measures and other planned reductions are scheduled every three years.

• The final deadline for ending coal use is 2038, but could be moved forward to 2035. A review in 2032 will decide.

• The commission refused to put a final price tag on the exit, but it foresees investing at least €40 billion in coal-dependent areas over the course of the next two decades, with a focus on job creation through innovation.

• The German government also promised to create or relocate 5000 government jobs to the affected regions, in North Rhine-Westphalia in the west of the country, and in Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony in the east.

• The commission recommended setting aside at least €2 billion euros a year to limit increases in German domestic power bills, which are already the most expensive in Europe. The 2022 review will set the exact amount.

• Germany already has mechanisms to compensate energy-intensive industries for the loss of cheap power; the plan would develop these further.

As part of the agreement, the commission recommended it would be "desirable" to keep the Hambach Forest intact.

The forest, in western Germany, once stretched over nearly 4000 hectares, but over the past decade, all but 100 ha have given way to a lignite mine that feeds one of Germany's dirtiest coal-fired plants.

For the past six years, protesters have built tree houses to defend the remaining trees, and environmental groups have filed lawsuits aimed at preventing the RWE power company from clearing the trees. Violent protests over the fate of the forest last summer made it a symbol for environmental activists around the world.

New York Times

Source: Read Full Article