Bericht von Climate Analytics, 23.10.2018 (engl. Originalfassung)
Germany is the European Union’s largest greenhouse gas emitter and has identified phasing out coal, which accounts for 37% of its gross power production, as a key element of achieving its climate targets. Establishment of the Commission on Growth, Structural Change and Employment in June 2018 (known as the Coal Commission) by the German Government has shifted the discussion from talking about the coal exit in general terms to evaluating the implications and identifying concrete pathways to carry it out. The commission is tasked with developing a coal phase-out plan to meet short-, medium- and long-term climate goals, combined with forward-looking structural development in the coal-mining regions.
With an increasingly sharp focus now on the most critical aspects of climate and energy policy decisions that need to be taken in the short term to limit warming to 1.5°C, the future of coal is now at the centre of questions as to how the world can meet the Paris Agreement’s goals. The IPCC Special Report on 1.5°C has found that it is essential to phase out coal rapidly from the power sector globally by 2050, with very substantial reductions already by 2030. Germany’s historic lead on fighting climate change and spearheading energy transformation with the ‘Energiewende’ has had asubstantial global effect and has helped create the pre-conditions
for rapid global action now. Examples of this historical political and policy leadership include leading the way on renewable energy targets and policies, championing international efforts such as the Kyoto Protocol, elevating climate to a top-level issue in the G7 leading up to Paris.
Germany’s scientists and governmentshave led on identifying the 2°C warming limit as an essential global goal from the mid-1990s onward.
The research underpinning the IPCC Special Report on 1.5°C identifying 1.5°C as an upper warming limit for climate policy is in part driven by the very substantial work of the German scientific community. Because of the significant impact of Germany’s coal-fired power plants on emissions and because of Germanys important historic lead on fighting climate change, the work of the Coal Commission is of global relevance and the phase-out date it will recommend for Germany will send a globally relevant signal.
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