Mining state economy minister warns against coal exit “at all costs”

Germany must not enter a coal exit at the expense of power supply security and industrial competitiveness, according to Andreas Pinkwart, economy minister for the west German coal mining state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), and member of the pro-business party FDP. Pinkwart told business daily Handelsblatt the country’s energy transition was very expensive and had little environmental impact because of hasty decisions in the past. “We must not aggravate the situation now. It would be a grave mistake to exit coal at all costs,” he said. Instead of trying to close the gap to reaching its 2020 climate targets as much as possible, Germany should focus on European and international targets for 2030 and 2050, Pinkwart added. “It’s already a very ambitious goal for Germany to reach those targets and remain a country with strong and innovative industry that is competitive on an international level.”

Read the interview in German (behind paywall) here.

For more details, read the freshly updated article Germany gears up for official talks on coal phase-out and the dossier German industry embraces Energiewende transformation challenge.