“The ‘coal rebel’ from Brandenburg comes forward”

Social Democrat state premier of Brandenburg Dietmar Woidke warns that certain coal related provisions in a late draft of the environment ministry’s climate plan could endanger power supply security in Germany, reports Daniel Wetzel in Die Welt. In a letter to Chancellor Angela Merkel, economy minister Sigmar Gabriel and environment minister Barbara Hendricks, seen by Die Welt, Woidke wrote: “The wording on coal-fired power generation is unacceptable both in terms of industry and energy policy. […] Until now, renewable energies are not able to supply the industry location Germany with more secure and cheaper energy” than lignite. Woidke demands that provisions excluding investments in new coal-fired power plants and expansions of existing open pit mines be removed from the draft, as well as calls for an EU carbon certificate floor price.

Read the article in German here.