Germany’s “coal commission” must prepare economic transition, not rapid coal exit – opinion

Germany’s planned “coal commission” should focus primarily on finding economic perspectives for affected regions, rather than aiming to shut down as many coal plants as possible in the short-term, Klaus-Peter Schulze, a biologist and conservative politician from the coal region of Lusatia, writes in an opinion piece on website klimaretter.info. The commission, officially titled with “growth, structural economic change and employment,” is supposed to take a holistic approach to phasing out coal-fired power production, and pressure from environmental groups before the commission has even started work “has to be seen very critically,” Schulze says. Germany’s coal regions need a perspective that completely replaces the coal industry with alternative structures that are attractive to investors, he argues.

Read the opinion piece in German here.

See the CLEW article New government gets little credit in quest to regain climate lead for background.