Commission for Growth, Structural Change and Employment

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The Commission for Growth, Structural Change and Employment (often just called the Coal Commission ) was set up by the German Federal Government on June 6, 2018 . The commission is to develop recommendations for measures for the social and structural development of the lignite regions as well as for their financial security. In the context of the climate crisis , a proposal for phasing out coal is to be drawn up that takes climate protection , economic growth and job protection into account.

In January 2019, the commission presented its final report, in which it advocated an end to coal-fired power generation by 2038 and presented its results.

background

Demonstration of the anti-coal power movement under the motto "Stop coal!" In the run-up to the first meeting of the coal commission on June 26, 2018

A commission to shape the nuclear phase-out has already been set up in Germany under the name of the Ethics Commission for a Secure Energy Supply .

In the “Impulse Paper Electricity 2030”, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWI) called for “a dialogue on how we can achieve the climate goals beyond 2020 in the electricity sector”.

The body was first mentioned under the name Commission for Growth, Structural Change and Regional Development in the Climate Action Plan 2050 , which was adopted on November 11, 2016. The climate protection plan provided for a body to be set up that would “develop a mix of instruments to support structural change that brings together economic development, structural change, social compatibility and climate protection”. The committee should start its work at the beginning of 2018 and, if possible, present results by the end of the same year.

The German Government's Advisory Council on Environmental Issues wrote: “In the opinion of the SRU, a commission to phase out coal-fired power generation will only be successful if it acts on the basis of a clear political mandate and the work mandate is clearly defined by politicians. The Commission can help to clarify the many unanswered questions about the coal phase-out as far as possible by consensus. This is not only about the business issues of the companies concerned, the preservation of jobs and structural policy options, but also about ensuring the climate and environmental protection. […] In view of the pressure to act, the climate protection targets and the remaining CO 2 emissions budget, the SRU believes that it is necessary not only to pass a resolution to phase out coal-fired power generation in the legislature that is now beginning, but also to agree on a binding phase-out . The Federal Government should therefore determine in advance what contribution the coal sector should make to climate protection, i.e. what remaining CO 2 emissions budget will be allocated to coal-fired power generation. The necessary contribution of coal-based power generation to the energy transition arises from the context of an overall strategy for long-term climate protection. This decision necessarily goes beyond the jurisdiction of such a coal commission. The requirement relieves those involved of the question of "whether" and sharpens the focus on the question of "how" a coal phase-out can take place. "

The Commission is also mentioned in the 2018 coalition agreement . The federal government announced: the establishment of a commission for an action program to achieve the 40 percent target, to reduce coal-fired power generation and to secure the necessary structural change.

history

The commission started its work on June 6, 2018. From the very beginning, the work of the commission was shaped by the opposing ideas of its members. For a time, the Commission was unable to agree on a common database for its work.

The current protests against lignite mining focus on the conflict over the Hambach Forest

While the commission was trying to start its work, RWE announced the clearing of the remaining forest in the Hambach Forest for its Hambach opencast mine for September 2018 . 16 environmental associations and citizens' initiatives demand that all work, plans and permits relating to a new lignite mining be put on hold until the coal commission comes to a conclusion. The manager of the NRW regional association of the federal government for the environment and nature conservation (BUND) said: "If it comes to clearing, it would be a central conflict for us, which would call into question our participation in the coal commission". In letters to the coal commission, ministries and the press, RWE AG claimed that the clearing of the controversial Hambach Forest was now necessary so that the power plants could continue to operate in the near future. According to research by Deutsche Welle , however, this statement does not correspond to the truth, as coal could be mined for three more years without clearing.

Initially, the coal commission did not want to address the dispute over the Hambach Forest in its work. After a long discussion, however, Ronald Pofalla, one of the four chairmen, declared the matter to be over, as a majority saw no connection between the planned clearing and the commission's mandate. After public actions by RWE employees and environmentalists, however, Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD), herself a member of the mining union IG BCE , asked its boss Michael Vassiliadis to include the question of the Hambach Forest in the coal commission's process.

In October 2018 around 80 members of the mining union IG BCE and employees of RWE AG met with whistles, drums and safety vests in front of the private house of Antje Grothus, in which she lives with her family. The demonstrators set fire to firecrackers and chanted “Grothus out”. A man stepped out onto the property and slapped the kitchen window with the palm of his hand. The Chairman of the Works Council of RWE Power AG Cologne, Walter Butterweck, was there and said and called the meeting “a site inspection”. The Aachen police told Ms. Grothus, who felt threatened: “Yes, of course we will allow that. This is a public road, we cannot protect any residential building. "

According to the cabinet decision, the commission should submit its final report to the federal government in December 2018. The deadline was extended at the end of November to the beginning of February of the following year.

Members

The commission had 28 voting members:

Chairperson

Members entitled to vote

Members of the German Bundestag who take part in the meetings of the commission as persons with the right to speak but not to vote

No member of the Bundestag from the opposition parties was involved in the commission.

Results

The final report presented by the commission on January 26, 2019 recommends that the Federal Government u. a. implement the following points:

  • Lignite-fired power plants with a capacity of three gigawatts and four gigawatts of hard coal-fired power plants are to be shut down by 2022 .
  • Another six gigawatts of brown coal and seven gigawatts of hard coal are to be taken off the grid by 2030.
  • The last plant is to be shut down in 2038. There is also the option to bring this forward to 2035.
  • The regions affected by the coal phase-out are to receive 40 billion euros in structural aid over the next 20 years.
  • The energy companies are to be compensated for the early shutdown of the power plants from the beginning of the twenties.
  • The commission considers a stop to clearing in the Hambach Forest to be "desirable", but does not explicitly advocate the preservation of the forest.

27 of the 28 voting commission members approved the final report. It was rejected by Hannelore Wodtke from the group of those affected by the Lausitz open-cast mine because the final report did not protect the village of Proschim from devastation .

Commissioners Martin Kaiser, Kai Niebert, Hubert Weiger and Antje Grothus approved the final report "in order to break the stalemate in Germany's climate policy in recent years", but they gave a special vote because the decision was not compatible with the Paris Climate Agreement. Neither the 2038 exit date nor the vague path from 2023 to 2030 are sufficient for the energy sector to make an appropriate contribution to climate protection.

The final report was handed over to Chancellor Angela Merkel on January 31, 2019 . Merkel announced that the federal government would bring a law of measures to implement the results by May 2019.

reception

The results of the coal commission received widespread praise, especially from trade union and industry representatives, but sparked criticism, especially from climate scientists. The climate researcher Hans Joachim Schellnhuber , himself a member of the commission, criticized the results as inadequate, but also supported their implementation: "If I, as a scientist, look at the environmental effect that comes out of this compromise, then that is certainly not sufficient." The energy and climate researcher Manfred Fischedick stated: “In terms of the Paris climate agreement, one should have set higher goals.” The climate researcher Brigitte Knopf commented similarly: “If one sets the bar of only 1.5 degrees temperature rise, the strategy is Coal Commission not compatible with Paris. " Hubert Weiger , chairman of the environmental association BUND, assessed the result as a" signal of departure that we are finally getting serious about getting involved in the phase out of coal ", but at the same time he was dissatisfied with the final one Exit date. The Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg criticized: “Germany wants to burn coal by 2038. This is absolutely absurd. " Paul Ziemiaks answer earned a Shitstorm .

Implementation of structural policy recommendations

Cornerstones for the implementation of structural policy recommendations

On the basis of the final report of the commission, the federal government and the countries concerned developed an overall concept to support the coal regions. This was decided by the Federal Cabinet on May 22, 2019 as “cornerstones for implementing the structural policy recommendations of the KWSB”.

It contains an immediate program, which is to have a short-term effect (i.e. without changes in the law) and to promote projects in the affected coal regions until 2021. It also contains the draft of a structural strengthening law for the coal regions.

Structural Strengthening Act of Coal Regions

On August 28, 2019, the Federal Cabinet passed the Structural Strengthening Act for Coal Regions, which implements the key points decided in May. The affected lignite regions will receive up to 14 billion euros for investments to stimulate the economy by 2038. In addition, the federal government supports the regions with up to 26 billion euros through further measures in its own responsibility, for example the establishment of federal institutions or the expansion of research and funding programs.

Coal Phase-Out Act 2038

On January 16, 2020, as part of a federal / state agreement on the coal phase-out, the basis for a coal phase-out law, which should regulate the end of coal-fired power generation by 2038, was laid. This was preceded by several draft laws for the reductions in the area of ​​hard coal and months of negotiations with lignite companies, especially RWE and LEAG . The basis of the agreement was formed by the resolutions of the Commission for Growth, Structural Change and Employment, including the preservation of the Hambach Forest , an orderly decommissioning path until 2038, a decommissioning of around 2.8 gigawatts by the end of 2022 and a further closure of 5 , 7 gigawatts of power plant capacity by the end of 2029, as well as the review of the planned closures after 2030 at the revision times 2026 and 2029 in order to end coal-fired power generation as early as 2035 if possible. Furthermore, the commissioning of Datteln 4 was approved, which resulted in harsh criticism from various environmental associations.

Entanglements and suspicion of corruption

A few months after the publication of the final report, one of the chairmen of the commission, the former Saxon head of government Stanislaw Tillich, moved to the supervisory board of the Mitteldeutsche Braunkohlengesellschaft . This provoked criticism from anti-corruption organizations, environmental associations and opposition politicians because of possible conflicts of interest. For example, Norman Loeckel from the organization Transparency Germany said that the decision was evidence of “a lack of political intuition and decency” and called for a “waiting period for former government members and state secretaries with a sufficiently long cooling-off period” to avoid such conflicts of interest. Was criticized u. a., Tillich created his later career at Mibrag himself with his appointment as commission head for lignite. Environmental associations asked whether the supervisory board position had been awarded as a reward for his commission work. Legally, the process is legal, as there is no waiting period in Saxony for changing from politics to business.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy: Coal phase-out and structural change. Retrieved September 5, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Advisory Council for Environmental Issues of the Federal Government, initiate coal phase out now , October 2017
  3. ↑ Climate protection - Climate Protection Plan 2050 , BMWI, November 2016 (PDF).
  4. ↑ Advisory Council for Environmental Issues of the Federal Government, initiate coal phase out now , October 2017.
  5. ^ Commission for the exit from coal, environmental associations set conditions , on tagesschau.de, March 7, 2018
  6. ↑ Commission on Growth, Structural Change and Employment starts work
  7. ↑ https://www.rundschau-online.de/politik/konflikt-um-hambacher-forst-betret-kohlekommission-31152750
  8. ↑ https://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/rheinland/tagebau-hambach-buergerinitiative-moratorium-kohlekommission-100.html
  9. ↑ Protest against RWE: "Instead of de-escalating, the fuse is placed in the Hambach Forest" . Federal government threatens to withdraw from the coal commission. In: FAZ.NET . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed September 20, 2018]).
  10. ↑ German wave Deceive RWE public and coal commission? , September 2, 2018
  11. ↑ Christian Wernicke: "Hunting against coal" . In: sueddeutsche.de . August 29, 2018, ISSN  0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed September 5, 2018]).
  12. ↑ https://rp-online.de/nrw/landespolitik/nicht-mit-zweierlei-mass-messen_aid-33840165
  13. ↑ https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/hambacher-forst-ich-habe-mich-bedroht-gefuehlt-1.4175754
  14. ↑ dpa / aerzteblatt.de: Coal Commission goes into extension. In: Deutsches Ärzteblatt. Deutscher Ärzteverlag GmbH, November 27, 2018, accessed on November 29, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Member list of the BMWI
  16. ↑ Apparently no opposition parties in the coal commission . Zeit Online, June 4, 2018
  17. ↑ Final report. Commission “Growth, Structural Change and Employment”, 7 April 2020, accessed on 7 April 2020 .
  18. ↑ Rene Wappler: In the portrait: She continues to fight against the coal. In: Lausitzer Rundschau. February 2, 2019, accessed May 5, 2019 .
  19. ↑ The woman who said “No”. Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, January 28, 2019, accessed on May 5, 2019 .
  20. ^ Special vote of the commission members Martin Kaiser, Greenpeace, Kai Niebert, DNR, Hubert Weiger, BUND and Antje Grothus. Retrieved May 5, 2019 .
  21. ↑ Michael Bauchmüller Berlin: Get out of here . In: sueddeutsche.de . January 29, 2019, ISSN  0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed May 5, 2019]).
  22. ↑ Merkel receives the final report from the coal commission. In: Stern. January 31, 2019, accessed May 5, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Energy policy: Merkel apparently wants to follow the proposals of the coal commission. In: Handelsblatt. January 31, 2019, accessed May 5, 2019 .
  24. ↑ Exit plan of the commission: This is how the government reacts to the coal compromise. Spiegel.de, January 26, 2019, accessed on January 27, 2019 .
  25. ↑ coal compromise: "This is not enough." Tagesschau.de, January 28, 2019, accessed on January 28, 2019 .
  26. ^ Coal phase-out and climate protection: Is that enough, Germany? Spiegel Online, January 29, 2019, accessed January 29, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Recommendation of the Coal Commission: phase out coal by 2038 at the latest. Taz.de, January 26, 2019, accessed on January 27, 2019 .
  28. ↑ “Coal exit only in 2038? Greta Thunberg finds the 'absurd' world of February 7, 2019
  29. ↑ "Shitstorm with announcement: CDU General Secretary pulls over climate activist Greta Thunberg" Stern dated February 9, 2019
  30. ↑ Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy: Coal phase-out and structural change. Retrieved September 5, 2019 .
  31. ↑ BMWI: Key points for the implementation of the structural policy recommendations of the commission “Growth, Structural Change and Employment” for a “Structural Strengthening Act for Coal Regions” https://www.bmwi.de/Redaktion/DE/Downloads/E/eckpunkte-strukturwandel.pdf?__blob = publicationFile & v = 16
  32. ↑ Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy: Altmaier: "With the Structural Strengthening Act, we secure structural funding for coal regions until 2038". Retrieved September 5, 2019 .
  33. ↑ Federal / state agreement on the coal phase-out. Retrieved January 16, 2020 .
  34. ↑ Christian Geinitz, Berlin: Coal exit: Hard past a disgrace . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed January 16, 2020]).
  35. ↑ Gordon Wüllner-Adomako & Christopher Onkelbach: Environmentalists: Datteln 4 is the "focus" of the protests. January 16, 2020, accessed on January 16, 2020 (German).
  36. ^ MDR: Criticism of the change from ex-Prime Minister Tillich to Mibrag. Retrieved September 27, 2019 .
  37. ↑ What is the taste of brown coal? . In: Freie Presse , September 25, 2019. Retrieved September 27, 2019.