German government denies media report on latest coal exit commission draft

The German government denies a report by news website Spiegel Online that the country's coal exit commission will propose to initiate the fossil fuel's phase-out in the west of the country and favours to finish it by 2035. Germany’s economy and energy ministry (BMWi), where the commission’s secretariat is based, said in a short statement “on behalf of the commission” that “the entire report lacks any basis.”
In the article on Spiegel Online, Gerald Traufetter writes that a leaked draft of the commission’s final report says coal plants with a total capacity of 5 gigawatts (GW) will be taken offline by 2022, thereof five lignite units in the Rhenish district in western state North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). After 2022, a total capacity of 37 GW remains to be closed, with a majority being switched off before 2030. Eastern German plants will only be closed after 2030, when a total of 16 GW remains, according to the article. A majority of the commission supports a proposal to complete the phase-out by 2035, when remaining plants could be transferred into a security standby reserve, writes Traufetter.
Martin Kaiser, head of Greenpeace Germany and coal commission member said in a statement that the members themselves had not seen the paper. “Closing the last coal plant in eastern Germany in 2035 is way too late,” Kaiser said, adding that only an earlier exit date would ensure that the country fulfilled its climate targets.

Find the article in German here.

For background, read the articles German government plans to postpone deadline for coal commission and Commission watch – Managing Germany’s coal phase-out.