News Digest Item
27 Mar 2017

Mining trade union: Coal exit after 2040 “realistic”

Handelsblatt

The head of German mining trade union IG BCE, Michael Vassiliadis, opposes a quick phase-out of coal-fired power production, Handelsblatt reports based on an interview by news agency dpa. A speedy decommissioning of lignite power plants would be “absurd,” Vassiliadis said, pointing out that licenses for the plants would be valid well into the 2040s. This was a “realistic” time to exit coal, he added. “We need to stop painting ideological pictures,” Vassiliadis said, arguing the energy transition needed “economically and technologically prudent” decisions.

Read the article in German here.

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

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