According to a report, the Greens want to bring forward the coal phase-out throughout Germany to 2030. This is a "necessary step to achieve the climate targets," the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" (SZ) quoted from a draft resolution for the parliamentary group meeting of the Green parliamentary group next week in Weimar. Accordingly, the lignite mining areas in eastern Germany are to be shut down eight years earlier than initially planned.
Germany is still not on the way to meeting the 1.5-degree target, the Greens justify the initiative. "Coal, oil and fossil gas have no place in a climate-neutral country," according to the "SZ" in the paper. Lignite in particular is "extremely harmful to the climate," warns the decision, which is intended to put the project high on the federal government's agenda.
The coal commission had originally agreed on the year 2038 as the exit year. In their coalition agreement, however, the traffic light parties SPD, Greens and FDP had agreed to strive for an accelerated phase-out of coal-fired power generation in order to comply with the climate protection targets. "Ideally" this will be achieved by 2030.
For North Rhine-Westphalia, an agreement between the federal government and the state with the energy group RWE now provides for the end of coal-fired power generation by 2030.
The Green Group is calling for a similar approach in the East. "We want security and prospects for the people in the East German coal regions," said parliamentary group leader Katharina Dröge of the "SZ". What is needed is a "forward-looking policy that shapes structural change".