No Need To Hurry! Merkel Gives Lignite Plants Another Six Years In German "Phase-Out" Of Coal

Germany’s main political parties worked out a compromise plan for cleaning up pollution from the power industry, handing a six-year lifeline for some of the dirtiest coal-fired plants.

Economy Minster Sigmar Gabriel said 13 percent of the power stations burning lignite, a cheap form of coal, would be phased out by 2021 under the program. The government scrapped discussion of imposing a climate change fee, which the industry said threatened jobs and would have forced more plant closures.

The decision, which must be ratified by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet later this year, boosted shares of utilities including RWE AG and EON SE. They were braced for more stringent measures as Germany slashes emissions in time for a United Nations deal on global warming in December.

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Environmental groups including Greenpeace said Merkel failed to honor a pledge to protect the climate made at the Group of Seven meeting in Bavaria in June. “Instead of starting the phase-out of coal as promised, the chancellor realizes all the dreams of power plant operators,” Tobias Muenchmeyer, a Greenpeace activist, said in an e-mailed statement. “They have to cut less CO2 and are even given billions for it.”

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-02/germany-to-close-coal-plants-in-effort-to-curb-pollution