https://www.canadianmanufacturing.com/environment-and-safety/otherwise-clean-germany-catches-flak-lingering-dirty-coal-habit-204308/
[Not arguing that coal is an acceptable generation technology, however,
let's give Germany and Merkel a little slack on this one. They have
essentially run the world's most aggressive programs on implementing
renewables (notably PV - kickstarting the world in PV production at ever
lower costs due to stable, high volume demand - and wind), and in the
wake of Fukushima the most aggressive program to shut down nuclear
fission generation. I suspect Merkel will meet her targets.]
Otherwise clean Germany catches flak for lingering dirty coal habit
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is under pressure from environmental
campaigners to establish a phase-out date for coal-fired power
November 14, 2017
by Frank Jordans, The Associated Press
BONN, Germany—World leaders arrived at global climate talks in Germany
on Wednesday to give the negotiations a boost going into the final
stretch, as campaigners called for a strong signal from rich countries
on curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
Particular attention was focused on German Chancellor Angela Merkel,
whose country is co-hosting the talks together with Fiji, a small
Pacific nation that faces dramatic consequences from unchecked climate
change.
Green campaigners and developing nations called on Merkel to use the
event on her home turf to announce that Germany will set a firm deadline
for phasing out the use of coal by 2030.
Germany generates about 40 per cent of its electricity from coal,
including the light brown variety called lignite that’s considered to be
among the most heavily polluting fossil fuels.
Environmental groups staged anti-coal protests before and during the
talks, and planned to roll out a “red carpet” for leaders arriving in
Bonn bearing the slogan “Keep It In The Ground.”
The timing is difficult for Merkel: after speaking at the climate talks
in Bonn she flies back to Berlin for negotiations on forming a new
government that would include both the environmental Green party and a
pro-business party, the Free Democrats, which opposes a coal deadline.
Energy companies warn that coal is needed to ensure a steady supply of
energy for Europe’s biggest economy.
Greens co-leader Katrin Goering-Eckardt said Wednesday that reaching an
agreement on Germany’s exit from coal would be “a small contribution to
managing to secure the survival of the planet.”
“Of course we are thinking about jobs—we do care about that—and of
course supply security in the energy market is obvious,” she said. “But
we must reach the climate protection targets for 2020, 2030, 2050.”
Germany is currently predicted to fall short of its target of reducing
emissions by 2020 by 40 per cent from 1990 levels, largely due to
emissions from the energy and transportation sectors. Experts say
phasing out coal would ensure the biggest cut.
“If we want to honour this pledge we have to phase out coal power—that
means lignite in particular in Germany,” said John Schellnhuber, who
heads the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
The loss of around 20,000 jobs in Germany’s coal industry could be
absorbed by the 600,000 new jobs the country’s economy is expected to
add next year, he said.
“Germany as a climate champion could definitely get out of coal fairly
quickly, but we keep on operating the dirtiest of all fossil fuels to
export the excess power,” said Schellnhuber, who was an adviser to
Merkel, a trained physicist, when she was Germany’s environment minister
at the first global climate talks in 1995.
“She’s a brilliant mind and she knows about the facts, we can be sure,”
he said.
Jennifer Morgan, executive director of Greenpeace International, said
Merkel had been a leader on climate, even in the face of setbacks such
as the announcement by President Donald Trump earlier this year that he
would pull out of the Paris accord.
“That credibility is hanging in the balance because of the fact that
German emissions are growing and because of the fact that there is a big
gap in being able to achieve this 2020 goal,” Morgan said.
The president of the small, low-lying Marshall Islands also urged German
Chancellor Angela Merkel to end her country’s use of coal ahead of her
appearance in Bonn this week. Curbing climate change is particularly
urgent for the small Pacific nation, which is only about two meters (6
1/2 feet) above sea level. Scientists say it may disappear beneath the
waves unless global warming remains well below 2 degrees Celsius.
