“No progress at all” with German coal commission – opinion

The German coalition government loves to talk about sustainability, but has shifted all responsibility for the nitty-gritty of climate action onto a commission tasked with managing the country’s coal phaseout, Michael Bauchmüller writes in the Süddeutsche Zeitung. The fact that the commission’s launch has already been delayed several times “says something about the priority level given to climate policy by this government,” he writes. Chancellor Angela Merkel “has not achieved enough at home to hold big speeches about the climate,” while “the former party of progress” – the Social Democrats (SPD), coalition partner of Merkel’s Conservatives - “revels in coal mining nostalgia,” Bauchmüller says. The coal commission is supposed to remedy all this by outlining a coal exit strategy by the end of the year. “But they will hardly have time for this because the [commission’s] structure makes every decision excruciatingly difficult.” However, should the commission turn out to be successful, “it would be in spite of, and not because of, this coalition government.”

Read the commentary in German here.

Find background in the CLEW factsheet on Germany’s coal exit commission and in the CLEW articles Wrangling over German coal exit talks reveals difficult task ahead and Merkel calls for honouring Paris deal as German climate action falters.