“With the weapons of capital”

Green power provider Greenpeace Energy uses “the weapons of capital” to push for a German coal exit by offering a power contract that lets customers invest in renewables expansion in the country’s lignite areas, writes Michael Bauchmüller for Süddeutsche Zeitung. The company “sees itself as the political enabler of the Energiewende and merges business with the commitment” to a cause, writes Bauchmüller. With a support amount of one cent per kilowatt hour electricity, customers finance the construction of new solar PV parks in coal mining areas.
The lignite exit had to start now and “we do not want to wait for politicians any longer”, Nils Müller, board member at Greenpeace Energy, said in a press release. He explained the company’s offer was based on findings of a new study by Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW), commissioned by Greenpeace Energy.
The expansion of renewables holds enough potential to fully replace lignite jobs in the German states Brandenburg, Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, according to the study.

Find the article in German here, Greenpeace Energy’s press release in German here, and the study in German here.

For background read the CLEW factsheet When will Germany finally ditch coal?