Mining union says “ideological war” in energy policy threatens jobs & supply security

An “ideological war” in Germany’s energy policy puts thousands of jobs and the country’s energy supply security at stake, the mining union IG BCE says in a press release. Speaking at a rally held near the Niederaußem coal-fired power plant in the western mining region of North Rhine-Westphalia in the last week of November, IG BCE head Michael Vassiliadis said that with “every gigawatt” of coal power capacity that is shut down, “1,000 jobs are on the line”. He added that the debate over the “premature” decommissioning of coal plants during the failed Jamaica coalition talks in Germany was based on “emotions” rather than “realism”, and that the arguments of the fossil industry were not heard by the political parties. Vassiliadis called on Chancellor Angela Merkel to “give clear guidelines” for Germany to achieve its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels.

Find the press release in German here.

See CLEW's updated factsheet Coal in Germany for background.