OSW Report | Germany bids farewell to coal. The next stage of the Energiewende

The prime ministers of Saxony, Brandenburg and Saxony ‑Anhalt had a significant influence on the course of the negotiations and obtained far‑ ‑reaching concessions with regard to both the shape of the timetable for power plant closures and the amount of financial support for the transfor‑ mation of the mining regions. [...] • The implementation of the green transformation of the economy in line with the long ‑term goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2045 is one of the greatest challenges faced by the new coalition holding the reins after the elections to the Bundestag. [...] Although it was the intention of the originators to give this body a name that would escape the negative connota‑ tions of the phasing out of the coal industry in Germany, and focus attention on the positive aspects of the structural transformation, it was commonly referred to as the coal commission. [...] During the communist era, the Lusatian and Central German basins were the energy base of the country, for which lignite was the key resource (in  the 1980s, over 80% of electricity was produced from lignite, and the GDR, with an annual output of 300 million tonnes, headed the global ranking of countries with the largest mining output).53 Due to the role of lignite in the economy, the profession of. [...] At key points, the prime ministers of the eastern federal states worked in tan‑ dem with the head of the North Rhine‑ Westphalia government, Armin Laschet, who also positioned himself as an opponent of moving away from coal too quickly, a defender of jobs and the interests of the economy and industry, and an advocate of the transfer of massive funds from the federal centre for infra‑ structure inv.