“Carry on? Then a climate catastrophe is just around the corner”

Each and every party involved in Germany’s ‘Jamaica coalition’ talks to form a new federal government should have an interest in securing “a quick and orderly coal exit”, as the alternatives “are way too risky”, Anna Pegels and Jonas Keil from the German Development Institute say in a guest article on Die Zeit Online. A “carry on” approach, in which practically nothing is done to phase out coal soon, “leads straight to a climate catastrophe”, the two researchers argue. Fossil power companies have immensely lost their value over the recent years, and a consistent re-orientation towards renewables in German energy policy not only would help to bring about the urgently needed reduction in carbon emissions, but also ensured that power companies prepare for a post-fossil age in power production, the authors say.

Read the article in German here.

See the CLEW article Germany’s energy use and emissions likely to rise yet again in 2017 for more information.

See CLEW’s Coalition Watch for latest developments in the ongoing talks over a new German government.