Marathon talks have produced an agreement between the government and Germany's coal-producing states on phasing out coal-fired energy plants at the latest by 2038. Some plants will already be shut down this year.
Image: imago images/Martin Wagner
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Chancellor Angela Merkel's government and Germany's four coal-producing states unveiled details of their plan to phase out coal at the latest by 2038 on Thursday.
The plans outline a timeline for decommissioning lignite-coal power plants in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg, as well as easing the financial transition for the states and energy firms involved.
What's in the plan?
The government wants to move up the timetable, shooting to exit coal by 2035 and at the latest by the previous target date of 2038.
Energy firms will receive a €4.35 billion ($4.85 billion) payout to compensate for the coal phaseout.
At least eight coal-fired power plants will be taken off the grid this year.
The government will provide €14 billion to the affected states to specifically aid the transition away from coal.
An additional €26 billion will be dedicated for "further measures" to support the states.
Financial payouts will only begin once parliament passes legislation making the deal binding.
When Germany phases out coal, mine operators will have to "renaturalize" their former coalfields. Lusatia has a head start: the region is turning mines into lakes, trading mining for tourism.
Image: Greenpeace Energy eG
From mining to tourism
In the days of the former East Germany, more than 65,000 miners were employed in Lausatia's coal mining sector. Thousands lost their jobs when mines shut down in the 1990s. To compensate, the region decided to boost its tourism sector, and the transformation has been ongoing ever since. Almost 37,000 acres of land ravaged by mining will eventually become Europe's biggest water playground.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Pleul
Total transformation
Today, this former open-pit mine is the site of Lake Senftenberg. It is surrounded by 7 kilometers of sandy beaches and lawns for sunbathing. The East German energy sector relied heavily on brown coal. But after reunification in 1990, dozens of coal pits were shut down. This lake actually formed after the mine started flooding in 1967 and the first 'beach section' was commissioned in 1972.
Image: imago/S. Hässler
Water, water, everywhere
Lake Geierswald and Lake Partwitz are just two of the 25 pit lakes in the area of Lausatia that spans the state borders of Brandenburg and Saxony. To keep their levels steady, water from the rivers Spree, Lusatian Neisse and Black Elster flow into the former mines. Without the artificial flooding, it would take 80 to 100 years to fill a pit naturally with rain and groundwater.
Image: Gemeinfrei
Taste of the mines
Johanniter or Pinotin? Cornelia Wobar grows both grape varieties on the only steep slope in Brandenburg, above the former open-cast mine that is now Lake Grossräschen. Wine experts say Brandenburg's intensely acidic soils have excellent potential for viticulture. The first wine produced from grapes grown on a former strip mine hit the market in 2008.
Image: picture-alliance/ZB/P. Pleul
Almost like the Caribbean
The glowing turquoise color of Lake Partwitz comes from quicklime added to the waters to neutralize acidity — a legacy of the mines. As a result, there is little plant and animal life, but the lake is safe for swimmers. Lake Partwitz was built on the former lignite mine at Geierswalde, a village in Lower Lusatia, and was fully flooded in 2015.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Pleul
Germany's biggest swimming lake
In early 2019, the energy group LEAG began flooding Lake Ostsee near Cottbus. Altogether, a million cubic meters of water will have to be added before the lake opens to the public. That's supposed to happen by 2025. LEAG had to stop its first trial flooding in 2018 after an exceptionally dry summer; the Spree River water levels were too low.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Pleul
Preparing the ground
Turning a former coal pit into a lake isn't as simple as just opening the floodgates. First, loose soil needs to be compressed to avoid the risk of landslides. Special vibro-compression technology, like this soil compactor working the former surface mine in Jänschwalde, near the city of Cottbus, are put into action.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P.Pleul
Disaster in Nachterstedt
Without proper precautions, disaster can strike. On July 18, 2009, a massive landslide on the southern shore of Lake Concordia in central Germany carried three houses away, killing three people. An investigation found that high pressure in the aquifer, combined with loose dump material underwater, were to blame for the accident. The area is still being redeveloped.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Wolf
A renewable future?
Greenpeace Energy has another vision for the former coalfields. As of 2020, it wants to buy open-cast mines from the RWE Group, shut them down by 2025 and build large-scale renewable energy plants that would generate roughly a quarter of the power RWE currently produces in the Rhineland mining region. To date, RWE has not agreed to sell its land.
Image: Greenpeace Energy eG
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'Important breakthrough' for the climate
Environment Minister Svenja Schulze praised the plan, which was agreed after six hours of talks with state leaders that lasted until the early hours of Thursday morning.
"We are the first country that is exiting nuclear and coal power on a binding basis, and this is an important international signal that we are sending," Schulze said at a press conference.
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said the payouts to energy firms were "affordable and in my view a good result."
"Germany is taking big steps on its way out of the fossil fuel age," Scholz added.
Armin Laschet, the state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, called the deal "an important breakthrough for climate protection."
"We will only succeed in achieving an ambitious coal phase-out if we take the citizens in the affected areas with us," Laschet said.
An estimated 20,000 people are employed in Germany's lignite industry — of which 15,000 work in open-pit mines and 5,000 in lignite power plants. The country's last active black coal mine closed in 2018, but more than 5,000 people still work in coal-fired power plants.
The government was under particular pressure from the eastern German states of Saxony, Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt, which raised concerns that the policy shift could worsen economic inequality with the former West German states.
Germany has come under increasing pressure to ditch its dependence on coal, from experts, environmental activists and the European Union.
Despite setting ambitious climate protection goals, Germany is the largest contributor of carbon emissions in the EU, accounting for over 22% of the bloc's CO2 emissions, according to an EU report.
Over a third of the electricity generated in Germany comes from burning coal — which produces large amounts of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Last year, the government rolled out a new climate protection plan with a target to generate 65% of energy from carbon-neutral sources by 2030.
