The plan is part of Germany’s “energy transition”, an effort to wean Europe’s biggest economy off planet-warming fossil fuels and generate all of the country’s considerable energy needs from renewable sources. Expand Close Coal will be phased out by 2038, under new plans (Martin Meissner/AP) AP/PA Images / FacebookTwitterEmailWhatsapp Coal will be phased out by 2038, under new plans (Martin Meissner/AP)“The days of coal are numbered in Germany,” environment minister Svenja Schulze said. “Germany, the country that burns the greatest amount of lignite coal worldwide, will burden the next generation with 18 more years of carbon dioxide,” Greenpeace Germany’s executive director Martin Kaiser said. Expand Close Germany will phase out coal power (Martin Meissner/AP) AP/PA Images / FacebookTwitterEmailWhatsapp Germany will phase out coal power (Martin Meissner/AP)Mrs Merkel has said she wants Europe to be the first continent to end its greenhouse gas emissions, by 2050. Germany closed its last black coal mine in 2018, but it continues to import the fuel and extract its own reserves of lignite, a brownish coal that is abundant in the west and east of the country.

Source: Irish Independent July 03, 2020 14:15 UTC