Legal opinion on coal exit is flawed – coal association

The Federal Association for Brown Coal (DEBRIV) says a legal opinion stating that a coal exit would be constitutional is superficial and draws the wrong conclusions. Law firm BeckerBüttnerHeld (BBH) and think tank Agora Energiewende* said on Monday that the government could introduce a speedy coal exit without having to pay compensation to operators of plants older than 25 years, because these had usually been written off. In a press release, DEBRIV argues that older plants are covered by the constitutional protection of property as much as younger plants. It also says the legal advice didn’t take into account the economic and social repercussions a coal phase-out would have on Germany’s mining regions.

Read the press release in German here.

Find the summary and links to the legal opinion (in German) here.

Read a CLEW factsheet on the issues of a German coal phase-out here.

*Like the Clean Energy Wire, Agora Energiewende is a project funded by Stiftung Mercator and the European Climate Foundation.