Germany announced on Saturday 26 January that it will stop producing energy from coal by the end of 2038 - a move that NGOs immediately welcomed, though they considered the 2038 end date to be too late.
In the opinion of the Health & Environment Alliance (HEAL) the coal commission compromise set up by the government last summer is "a missed public health opportunity", as the NGO considers that much more is required to ensure a healthy energy future (see EUROPE 11587). "Closing some health-harming German Lignite plants in the next years is necessary and overdue – but with a phase out date of 2038 Germany continues to fall behind on climate and health protection in the EU", Ann Stauffer from the NGO commented.
In a statement made by Greenpeace Germany, they considered the 2038 date to be "unacceptable", as this deadline does not respond to the urgent situation shown by the latest IPCC special report, which states that industrialised countries must reduce coal use by 2030 if the world is to have a chance to limit average global warming to 1.5° Celsius. "Germany has finally stepped up and joined most of its European neighbours in setting a phase-out date for coal and it deserves credit for that. But this target of 2038 is not going to protect Germany or other countries from the dangerous impacts of climate change", said Jennifer Morgan of Greenpeace International. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)