Finding compromises key to energy transition’s success – commentary

The most important political decisions in Germany cannot be made by directives but must be earned by reconciling antagonist factions in society trough compromise and consideration, Thorsten Knuf writes in a commentary for the Frankfurter Rundschau. “This has been true for the decisions made on the nuclear exit, its funding, and the search for a final repository. And, in an ideal case, it will be true for the impending decisions on a long-term, socially acceptable end of coal-fired power production and the effects it has on the climate,” he writes. “This, at least, is the idea behind the government’s coal exit commission,” Knuf says, adding that the announcement by energy company RWE that it will ignore calls for a lignite mining moratorium until the end of the commission’s work could easily upend the hope to find a compromise. “It’s not clear if the government grasps what is at stake here. If things don’t work out, the government is to blame – not the commission,” Knuf writes.

Find background in CLEW’s Commission watch and the factsheet on Germany’s coal exit commission.