“Coal-fired power production: 50 percent less by 2030 is possible – and necessary”

German coal-fired power production needs to be more than halved by 2030 if the country is to reach the climate targets spelled out in its Climate Action Plan 2050, according to the Federal Environment Agency (UBA). This is best achieved by switching off the oldest lignite and hard coal power plants, instead of increasing the price for CO2 emissions, argues a study by the Institute for Applied Ecology (Öko-Institut) commissioned by UBA.
The study compares different strategies to achieve 2030 targets, such as a maximum life span of coal-fired power stations of 40 years, a gradual and complete shutdown of the dirtiest lignite plants, an additional levy of ten euros for every tonne of CO₂ produced with fossil fuels, and a limitation of coal plants’ full load hours of 4,000 hours per power station.

Find UBA’s press release in German here and the study in German (with an executive summary in English) here.

For background read the CLEW factsheet When will Germany finally ditch coal?

The Clean Energy Wire will publish an article on this topic later today.