Lignite phase-out would hit eastern Germany hardest – study

Lignite is still of economic significance in Germany’s brown coal regions, and the coal phase-out must be actively managed especially in the economically weak eastern German region of Lusatia, writes the Rhineland-Westphalia Institute for Economic Research (RWI Essen) in an in-depth study on Germany’s lignite regions. Lusatia’s level of industrialisation is relatively low, its economy is based on small businesses, the services sector (information and communication) is relatively underdeveloped, and innovation intensity is low. Additionally, the working-age population will decrease by almost a third by 2035, which is twice as fast as for Germany overall, which will make finding skilled labour especially hard, writes RWI Essen. The institute prepared the study for the German government to support the work of the newly appointed coal exit commission.

Find the study in German here.

For background, read the CLEW article Commission watch – Managing Germany’s coal phase-out and the factsheet Coal in Germany.