– Germany has agreed to compensation of about 40 billion euros for affected regions, workers and companies as part of plans to end its use of brown coal in power plants by 2038, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Thursday.
In a deal reached in overnight talks which stretched into the early morning hours, the government agreed to pay up to 14 billion euros in aid to the affected states of Brandenburg, North-Rhine Westphalia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt until 2038, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said during a news conference that utilities shutting down coal-fired plants in the 2020s, in accordance with an agreed coal phase-out plan, would be compensated with a combined sum of 4.35 billion euros.
The BDI industry association criticised the agreement, saying companies had hoped for more help to cope with increased energy costs.Altmaier said the law on exiting coal power would likely be brought before parliament on January 29. It specifies that the last coal-fired plant must be shut by 2038. Seibert said that Berlin would also pay compensation to employees affected by the coal exit law up to 2043. The exact sum for each worker remains unclear.