Germany’s climate credibility depends on successful coal exit - commentary

At the next UN climate conference in Poland, the German government can credibly call on the international community to put more effort into climate protection only if it successfully manages its own coal exit, write Ottmar Edenhofer and Hans Joachim Schellnhuber in a guest commentary in Die Zeit. Phasing out coal is a vital question for international climate diplomacy, they say. In their blueprint for future talks, coalition negotiators from the CDU/CSU and the SPD emphasise the 2030 greenhouse gas reduction target, but fall short of identifying concrete steps to reach it, write Edenhofer and Schellnhuber. They propose to introduce a minimum price for European Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) certificates, without which the planned coal exit of a future coalition was “hardly realistic”. They also call for a CO₂-based tax on fossil fuels used in transport and heating.

Read the guest commentary (behind paywall) in German here.

For background, check out CLEW’s article German party leaders agree energy policy blueprint for coalition talks, and the coverage of last year’s climate conference in Bonn, including the article Poland's Katowice COP: Next coal country hosting UN climate talks.