Agreement with Habeck
RWE prefers to phase out coal by eight years
10/04/2022, 10:45 am
Officially, Germany will not phase out coal until 2038, but the traffic light coalition is already aiming for the end for 2030. The government is getting closer to the goal: RWE announces that it will stop using fossil fuels by then. In addition, it remains the case that the Lützerath settlement is being excavated.
The energy company RWE wants to bring the phase-out of coal forward by eight years to 2030. This provides for an agreement on key points between RWE, the Federal Ministry of Economics and the NRW Ministry of Economics. At the same time, two power plant blocks, which according to the current legal situation should be shut down at the end of the year, will continue to run until spring 2024. This should strengthen the security of supply and save natural gas in the electricity market, as announced by the NRW Ministry of Economic Affairs. Part of the agreement is that the small town of Lützerath will definitely be dredged.
The decision left around 280 million tons of coal in the ground, which corresponds to around 280 million tons of the greenhouse gas CO2 that would no longer be emitted. RWE also wants to invest massively in renewable energies in order to make a further contribution to the phase-out of coal. According to the announcement, RWE boss Markus Krebber said that the exit would be made in a socially responsible manner. It shouldn’t be at the expense of employees.
The news received a lot of applause from the ranks of the Greens. Co-Chairman Ricarda Lang welcomed the agreement as a “great success” for climate protection. The agreement must point the way for a nationwide phase-out of coal by 2030.” So far, this is planned by 2038 at the latest. Green politician and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Michael Kellner agreed with the demand: “Now it is important to aim for the 2030 phase-out target in East Germany as well,” he explained There are two more districts there Katharina Dröge, leader of the Greens in the Bundestag, spoke of an “incredibly important step for climate protection”.
The FDP, on the other hand, criticizes the earlier phase-out of coal in western Germany. Group Vice President Lukas Köhler said that Minister of Economics Habeck’s proposal to change the coal phase-out law, which was not coordinated in the coalition, harbored “considerable risks”. The FDP energy politician Michael Kruse said: “Politically fixed switch-off dates have made our energy system vulnerable, Robert Habeck should not repeat this dramatic mistake.” Köhler said that the CO2 price in EU emissions trading would mean that the market-based phase-out of coal would be completed by around 2030.
Lützerath does not stay
Despite the associated increased demand for lignite in the next 15 months, further resettlements for lignite mining can be ruled out, it said. Maintaining the Lützerath settlement is not possible and therefore not part of the agreements.
Activists have been fighting for years to preserve the small town. It is to be demolished in order to mine lignite in the Garzweiler opencast mine. The coal under Lützerath is needed “to operate the lignite fleet at high capacity during the energy crisis,” RWE said. All “original inhabitants” had already left the place. At the moment, climate protection activists are still holding out there, fighting to preserve Lützerath. RWE had already announced that it intended to put lignite-fired power plants back into operation. RWE said that the early phase-out of coal would roughly halve the amount mined. As a result, several places were preserved.
The traffic light coalition at federal level aims to “ideally” bring forward the phase-out of coal in Germany, which was previously planned by 2038 at the latest, to 2030, as stated in the coalition agreement. With the Rheinisches Revier, RWE manages the largest lignite mining area in Europe. In addition to the Essen group, the companies LEAG, MIBRAG and ROMONTA also mine lignite in Lusatia and in the Central German mining area, according to the Federal Association of Brown Coal.