Regional authorities want to breathe new life into the Ibbenbüren colliery. Located on the northern edge of North Rhine-Westphalia, the city of Ibbenbüren is home to one of the last two active hard coal mines in Germany. This colliery directly feeds most of its coal to the adjacent hard coal power plant in Ibbenbüren. The remaining two hard coal mines will be shut down at the end of 2018, however, hard coal-fired power generation will continue with imported coal.

Once employing several thousand people, only 500 employees will remain to witness the complete closure of the Ibbenbüren colliery. However, the city of Ibbenbüren is trying to involve its citizens and other stakeholders in repurposing the mining site. It may follow the example of the city of Bottrop, which has shown how to successfully transform a mine dump into a popular tourist attraction.

• Further reading: CLEW factsheet Coal in Germany
• CLEW research tour: Germany’s historic coal year 2018
• Date of publication: June 2018