On Wednesday, Germany’s incoming government announced the agreement to commit to a coal phase-out by 2030 in a coalition deal along with a quicker expansion of renewables utilization.
The previous coal-exit target was 2038.
The coalition, comprising Social Democrats (SPD), Greens, and Liberal Democrats (FDP), said it would aim to be climate neutral, and be open to all technologies except nuclear energy, which will be ditched by the end of 2022 under a previous plan.
In 2022, the new government will adopt a new climate protection program and it pledged to cut down on the red tape to make a faster expansion of renewables possible.
By 2030, Germany targets renewables to account for 80% of the country's gross electricity demand by installing 200 GW of solar and at least 30 GW of offshore wind capacity by then. The previous target was 65%.
Also by 2030, Germany will also aim for 10 GW of electrolysis capacity to base a new hydrogen economy that will include huge import activity too.
The country will also maintain bolder carbon emissions pricing to quicken the exit from fossil fuels. Prices would be kept higher than EUR60/tonne (USD67.15/tonne) in the long term if the EU cannot agree on a minimum price in its emissions trading scheme.
The draft of a new climate protection program said that carbon trading should be widened to providers of heating and transport.
The country will pay a renewable support fee known as the EEG levy from the state budget, rather than collect it from consumers, to help consumers with high energy bills starting in 2023.
