The federal government wants to expand the scope for state funding programs in the former coal-mining regions and thus accelerate structural change. Direct investments in company relocations are now also to be made possible. Funds should also be made available for the establishment of the solar industry, for example, said Economics and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) on Monday at the East German Economic Forum in Bad Saarow, Brandenburg.
Early coal phase-out in the east too?
A paper from the Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection emphasizes that the legally agreed phase-out of coal-fired power generation by 2038 is still in place with regard to the eastern German coal-mining regions. "The Federal Government will not make any political efforts to change this statutory deadline." A possible market-driven phase-out before 2038, as well as measures by the federal states and coal-mining regions, would remain unaffected by this.
The background to this is a reform of European emissions trading, which is intended to make climate-damaging coal-fired power generation increasingly unprofitable. The ministry also refers to the ongoing expansion of renewable energies as well as the planned construction of new gas-fired power plants that are to be converted to hydrogen - and the legal possibility of bringing forward the coal phase-out to 2035.
