First stocktake of just transition funding in Germany’s coal regions

Germany’s federal government has spent 16.3 billion euros supporting projects to help coal mining regions with the transition away from the fossil fuel industry, a first report by the federal government on the performance under the 2020 state investment law for former coal regions shows. In addition, 16 government authorities were established either with headquarters or subsidiaries in the lignite mining regions, such as a new central office of the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) in Cottbus, creating some 2140 jobs.

Germany’s coal exit law states that coal-fired power generation should end by 2038 at the latest. The investment law is part of the support package for regions that are particularly dependent on the coal industry and is an important part of the country’s 2020 coal phase-out decision. The German government has made up to 40 billion euro available for supporting a just transition away from coal over the coming years.