Germany鈥檚 coal exit commission
[Please Note: For background on the protracted battle preceding the official launch, see the 麻豆无码版 article听Germany starts coal exit talks in bid to improve patchy climate record]
Official title:
鈥淐ommission on Growth, Structural Change and Employment鈥�
Deadlines:
October 2018 鈥� Initial social and economic policy recommendations for coal regions (see detailed article here).
Initial deadlines to publish recommendations before the COP24 in Poland and the final report by year end were scrapped in late November. They are now scheduled for release after the last planned commission meeting on 1 February 2019.
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Commission's structure:
Commission leaders - Stanislaw Tillich (CDU, former state premier of lignite mining state Saxony), Matthias Platzeck (SPD, former state premier of lignite mining state Brandenburg) & Barbara Praetorius (Climate economist, former deputy director at Agora Energiewende*) & Ronald Pofalla (CDU, former Chief of the Chancellery, now board member at Deutsche Bahn)
Representatives of 8 federal ministries: economy & energy (BMWi, also hosts commission鈥檚 secretariat), environment (BMU), internal affairs (BMI, includes department for construction), labour (BMAS), transport (BMVI), finances (BMF), agriculture (BMEL) and education & research (BMBF)
Representatives of 6 federal states: North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Lower Saxony and Saarland
Three members of parliament (without voting rights): Andreas L盲mmel (CDU), Andreas Lenz (CSU) and Matthias Miersch (SPD)
The commission additionally will have the following 24 members:
- Jutta Allmendinger 鈥� Social Scientist, President of the . ( withdraws from commission to pursue scholarship in the US; to be replaced by Christiane Sch枚nefeld, regional director of Germany's Federal Employment Agency in NRW)
- Antje Grothus 鈥� Citizens鈥� initiative "Buirer f眉r Buir;" climate policy coordinator for NRW, Climate-Alliance Germany听
- Gerda Hasselfeldt - former chairwoman of CSU parliamentary group
- Christine Herntier 鈥� Mayor of coal mining town Spremberg, spokesperson for Lusatia mayors鈥� association ()听
- Martin Kaiser 鈥� Executive Director Programme Greenpeace听
- Stefan Kapferer 鈥� Head of Utility Association BDEW听
- Steffen Kampeter - former state secretary in finance ministry, now
- Dieter Kempf 鈥� President of industry association BDI
- Stefan K枚rzell 鈥� Board member at the
- Michael Kreuzberg 鈥� District Administrator of western German mining region 听
- Felix Matthes 鈥� Research coordinator at Institute for Applied Ecology (脰办辞-滨苍蝉迟颈迟耻迟)听
- Claudia Nemat- 听
- Kai Niebert 鈥� Sustainability Researcher, 听
- Annekatrin Niebuhr 鈥�
- Reiner Priggen 鈥�
- Katherina Reiche 鈥� Head of German Association of Local Utilities (VKU)
- Gunda R枚stel 鈥� , formerly leader of the Green Party听
- Andreas Scheidt 鈥�
- Hans Joachim Schellnhuber - (PIK)
- Eric Schweitzer 鈥� (DIHK)
- Michael Vassiliadis 鈥� Head of mining union IG BCE
- Ralf Wehrspohn 鈥�
- Hubert Weiger 鈥� BUND听
- Hannelore Wodtke 鈥� Head of Citizen Group
Additionally, the commission has decided to split itself up into two seperate working groups, one focussing on "energy industry and climate goals" and the other one on "economic development and jobs in the region." The groups are open to all members of the coal commission.
Primary aims:
- Develop 鈥渃oncrete prospects鈥� and transition plans for the economic future of lignite-mining regions and identify strategies to reconcile climate action with economic stability
- Identify measures to ensure Germany meets its 2030 climate target by reducing emissions from the energy sector by 61 to 62 percent, compared to 1990 levels
- Agree on a roadmap and an end date to phase out coal-fired power production completely and in line with Germany鈥檚 Climate Action Plan as well as its national contributions to the Paris Climate Agreement
- Make recommendations for closing the gap to Germany鈥檚 2020 climate target 鈥渁s much as possible鈥�
How did the commission come about?
The idea of launching a commission to manage the phase-out of coal by reaching a broad consensus was first introduced in the Climate Action Plan 2050 in November 2016. It was called the 鈥淐ommission for growth, structural economic change and regional development鈥� but the government later changed the last aspect to 鈥渆mployment鈥�. The re-brand underlined the body鈥檚 central aim of facilitating a transition away from coal with as little economic fallout as possible. This was echoed in the government鈥檚 decision to set up the commission under the management of the Federal Ministry for Economy and 麻豆无码版 (BMWi), rather than the Environment Ministry (BMU).
The commission transfers responsibility for planning the controversial phase-out from government to an external body, which is to include representatives of the federal government and parliament, the federal states, of local authorities for coal regions, and the private sector. It is to develop an overarching approach to managing the coal phase-out鈥檚 technical, legal, economic and social impacts. In the German government鈥檚 coalition treaty, the governing coalition between Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU/CSU alliance and the Social Democrats (SPD), agreed to set up a 鈥渟pecial commission鈥� to plan a coal exit strategy. This is not the first time the government has used this model; a similar commission was set up to manage financing of the nuclear phase-out.
The CDU/CSU-SPD government formed following the failure of the 鈥淛amaica coalition鈥� talks between the conservatives, pro-business FDP and the Green Party, which included intense debates over the future of coal in Germany. Shortly before the collapse of the Jamaica talks, Chancellor Angela Merkel鈥檚 conservatives agreed to retire 7 gigawatts (GW) of coal power capacity by 2020. However, they withdrew this offer in talks to form a government with the SPD.
What is the commission supposed to do for coal region economies?
The opens with a clear commitment to the federal government鈥檚 general aim of "creating full employment and equal living conditions throughout Germany." This highlights the body鈥檚 central task of ensuring that a coal phase-out does not inflict substantial economic upheaval on regions that have been economically dependent on coal for decades.
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"Implementing the Climate Action Plan will accelerate the structural change in many regions and economic sectors,鈥� the paper says, warning that disruption will be particularly felt in the energy sector. The commission therefore is supposed to present alternatives to coal for affected regions, and develop ideas for better local transport connections, the training of skilled labour, settlement of research facilities, entrepreneurial opportunities and other measures to boost economic competitiveness. It shall come up with a plan to pay for these measures with a combination of national and EU funding.
The commission is expected to make green energy a bedrock of the regions' economic perspectives. As well as Germany鈥檚 economy and energy ministry and the environment ministry, two further ministries will work with the commission鈥檚 steering group 鈥� the ministries for labour (BMAS) and for the interior (BMI). The ministries for transport (BMVI), finances (BMF), agriculture (BML) and education & resea