NRW state premier Laschet attaches conditions to German coal exit date

Any date for abandoning coal agreed by Germany’s coal exit commission must be linked to specific conditions - and these must be fulfilled to actually implement the agreement, the state premier of Germany’s most populous federal state North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Armin Laschet, told news agency dpa in an article on Spiegel Online. “There needs to be an if-then-clause,” Laschet said, arguing that “you cannot just say this or that will happen on some day in the 2030s.” He stressed that NRW would be ready “to support a complete package for a coal exit if the conditions for affected people and companies are acceptable” and sufficient financial means are provided to cope with structural economic changes. Laschet said that “a coal exit will be very expensive – that’s what happens when you decide to get rid of a domestic, competitive energy source for political reasons and to protect the climate.”

Find the article in German here.

See the CLEW article German government plans to postpone deadline for coal commission and CLEW’s Commission watch for more information.