German’s incoming government has revealed plans to stop using coal by 2030. The coalition, formed by The Greens, Social Democrats and the Free Democrats are planning to bring forward their carbon-friendly agenda earlier. In fact, the plans to phase out coal is eight years ahead of schedule!
The announcement comes at the same time that the incumbent Government has announced a sweep of new environmentally-friendly policies. This includes a goal of 80% renewable electricity by the end of the decade. To help meet this goal 2% percent of German land will be used to create wind farms! The Government also wants to see an uptake in electric vehicles, and proposed 15 million vehicles will be electric by then. This will no doubt be helped by the Government’s generous electric vehicle scheme. Under this scheme those in the market for a new car can claim back 9,000 euros on a brand new electric car purchased for under 40,000 euros.
Under the recent election in Germany, The Greens saw their best result, winning 118 seats – 15% of the vote. Annalena Baerbock- co-leader of The Greens spoke about how the climate is top of their agenda.
“We can transform our economy so it becomes climate neutral. We have an agreement where climate neutrality is a common denominator.”
Their new plans will see Germany climate-neutral by 2045.