Posted on 01/17/2020 6:42:02 AM PST by karpov
Germany announced on Thursday that it would spend $44.5 billion to quit coal — but not for another 18 years, by 2038.
The move shows how expensive it is to stop burning the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel, despite a broad consensus that keeping coal in the ground is vital to averting a climate crisis, and how politically complicated it is.
Coal, when burned, produces huge amounts of the greenhouse gas emissions that are responsible for global warming.
Germany doesn’t have shale gas, as the United States does, which has led to the rapid decline of coal use in America, despite President Trump’s support for coal. Germany also faces intense opposition to nuclear power. After the Fukushima disaster in 2011, that opposition prompted the government to start shutting down the country’s nuclear plants, a transition that should be complete by 2022.
The money announced Thursday is to be spent on compensating workers, companies and the four coal producing states — three in the country’s east and one in the west. It followed months of negotiations between regional officials and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government.
“Germany, one of the strongest and most successful industry nations in the world, is taking huge steps toward leaving the fossil fuel era,” Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said at a news conference in Berlin.
Germany’s timetable, though, could present challenges to the European Union’s efforts to swiftly cut its greenhouse gas emissions, as the bloc’s new leadership has announced. Countries around the world are watching how quickly the 28-country union, which, taken together is currently the third-largest emitter of planet-warming gases, can reduce its carbon footprint. Germany is the largest economy in the European Union.
Environmental organizations criticized the government plan for being too slow and for not expanding renewable energy sources quickly enough.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Too little too late. We’re all gonna die in ten years.
Without coal where would we get reliable and cost efficient electricity?
There is no climate crisis.
Germany is phasing out nuclear power. Don’t ask, everyone will be long dead before then.
“Coal, when burned, produces huge amounts of the greenhouse gas emissions that are responsible for global warming.”
Behold the ease with which they just lie to their readers as if they were stating the wetness of water.
Germany can’t phase out coal easily because it will cause massive unemployment in their already fragile economy. They already have taxes in place to compensate for the last downturn in the coal industry and the only way they can get away with it again is to increase the already substantial tax burden on taxpayer.
Of course, taking more of what little the peasant has is what socialist do best and the German government (as well as most of Europe) is far more socialist than many will admit.
Everything is man’s fault! Cue voluntary human extinction.
Insincere virtue signal. 18 yeas out, as if.
“Coal, when burned, produces huge amounts of the greenhouse gas emissions that are responsible for global warming.”
Mountain Walker, this jumped out at me, too. Traditionally, it has been particulates (soot, etc) that was seen as the problem with coal burning power plants. That problem is can be, and is being addressed in a number of ways that are practical and now reasonably effective. It is only by winning the definition of CO2 as a polluting so-called “greenhouse gas,” that libs can claim “HUGE AMOUNTS” of pollutants.
First lesson, libs change the simple meanings of words to fit their aims (”depends on what “is” means).
Second lesson, libs lie.
There you have it.
They are SO concerned about carbon emissions they decided to shut down the one source of significant amounts of energy they have which emits zero carbon.
Aber natuerlich!
I have read this same story from many sources. NOT ONCE has the alternative sources of energy been mentioned.
Wouldn’t the $44,000,000,000.00 be better spent on CLEAN coal technologies.
“Germany, one of the strongest and most successful industry nations in the world, is taking huge steps toward leaving the fossil fuel era”
Well maybe they should have just left the place like it was in 45, when we helped them achieve that goal.
Dream on. That’s a fraction of what Germany would actually pay to do it.
Coal, what about wood pellets they by from US?-) Is that off the GloBULL warming freaks radar:-)
Wouldn’t the $44,000,000,000.00 be better spent on CLEAN coal technologies.
Like Zeno’s walk, clean coal?
You never get there.
The east german Frau will cause a lot of damage on her way out of power but Germany will not give up coal in the end.
Every kiloWatt of electricity the Germans produce by “renewables” costs them three times what the same kiloWatt does from fossil fuels.
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