Media report about coal exit proposal causes irritation

A report about a proposal by one of Germany’s coal commission co-heads for a coal exit by 2038 has caused irritation. Co-chair Ronald Pofalla also proposed taking 5-7 gigawatts of coal capacity off-line and into a security reserve by 2020, and revisiting the exit path by 2027, according to a report in magazine Der Spiegel. Some commission members were quick to reject the report and warned that the commission's work was in peril should individual members rush ahead. Commission member Christine Herntier, mayor of a twon in the affected lignite mining area of Lusatia, says the media report raised fundamental questions about the procedures of the commission, which she will bring up at the meeting on 18 September. Meanwhile, thousands of protesters marched at Hambach Forest, scheduled to be cleared to make room for lignite mining, after police has started to remove protest camps from the site.

Find more details in the CLEW article Report about coal exit plan causes irritation as commission to meet and background in commission watch - managing Germany's coal phase-out.