Economy minister “Zypries opposes quick lignite exit”

German economy minister Brigitte Zypries opposes a quick end to lignite-fired power production in the country, Christian Grimm writes in an article for Dow Jones Newswires carried by website finanztreff.de. “We cannot afford to shut down the large lignite areas in Lusatia and North-Rhine Westphalia from one day to another,” Zypries said at a ceremonial act celebrating 40 years of national energy research in Berlin. A quick lignite exit would not be accepted by the local population, Zypries argued. The minister also said Germany had to “reconcile the economy with ecology” and make sure that energy-intensive industries did not leave the country due to constantly rising power costs.

Read the article in German here.

See the CLEW factsheet When will Germany finally ditch coal? for background.