Greens to bring forward coal phase-out to 2030 in east

According to a report, the Green Party wants to bring forward the phase-out of coal 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 Green parliamentary group's conference in Weimar next week. According to the paper, lignite mines in eastern Germany are also to be shut down eight years earlier than initially planned.

Germany is still not on track to meet the 1.5-degree target, the Greens say, justifying the move. "Coal, oil and fossil gas have no place in a climate-neutral country," the paper says, according to the SZ newspaper. Lignite in particular is "extremely damaging to the climate," warns the resolution, which aims to push the project high up on the German government's agenda.

The coal commission had originally agreed on 2038 as the phase-out 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 to meet climate protection targets. "Ideally, this could be achieved by 2030.

For North Rhine-Westphalia, an agreement between the federal and state governments and the energy company RWE now provides for the phase-out of coal-fired power generation by 2030.

The Green parliamentary group is calling for a similar approach in the east. "We want security and prospects for the people in the eastern German coal regions," parliamentary group leader Katharina Dröge told the SZ newspaper. What is needed is a "forward-looking policy that shapes structural change."

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