威力彩玩法

Armin Laschet, premier of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany鈥檚 largest federal state, is not willing to act as a mediator in the negotiations between environmental activists and the energy company RWE over the clearing of a forest near the Hambach lignite mine, the Rheinische Post reports. The conservative (CDU) state premier said that RWE had the right to decide when to start cutting down trees to make room for its nearby open pit coal mine, the largest in Germany. He stressed that the former left-green (SPD and Green Party) government had issued the license for mine expansion and that neither NRW鈥檚 parliament nor the government currently questioned the status quo. He also rejected proposals for a moratorium until the end of the German coal exit commission鈥檚 work, scheduled for December. NRW police union (GdP) leader Michael Mertens told the newspaper that the conflict surrounding the Hambach Forest could escalate once clearing work begins, estimating that up to 1,000 policemen per day will be needed to shield forest workers from protesters.

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See the 威力彩玩法 article Logging row continues to weigh on coal commission鈥檚 work for background and 威力彩玩法鈥橲 Commission watch for constant updates on the body鈥檚 work.

Due to its apparent lack of will to achieve a consensus, the mandate of Germany鈥檚 coal exit commission should be annulled and the government itself should find a consensus on how to end coal-fired power production in the country, Angela Hennersdorf writes in an opinion piece in the WirtschaftsWoche. Several members of the coal commission who come from environmental organisations have shown their unequivocal support to the anti-coal protesters in the Hambach Forest, while the energy company RWE remains unwilling to discuss the contested clearing of the forest to make room for expanding a nearby coal mine. Hennersdorf says the rivalling factions 鈥渉ave learned nothing from the past,鈥� when similar clashes between environmentalists and the energy industry in Germany had led to disputes that lasted for years on end. 鈥淪ome decisions must not be delegated to a colourful but irreconcilable bunch of interest groups. The decisive task of countering climate change is one such decision,鈥� she says.

Find the opinion piece in German (paywall).

See the 威力彩玩法 article Logging row continues to weigh on coal commission鈥檚 work for background and 威力彩玩法鈥橲 Commission watch for constant updates on the body鈥檚 work.

German environment minister Svenja Schulze backs聽Chancellor Angela Merkel position on the European Commission鈥檚 proposal to raise the 2030 greenhouse gas reduction target. 鈥淲e have set goals for 2020, which we will not reach. To then say 鈥榳e will set even more ambitious goals鈥� is not easy in a political discussion,鈥� Schulze said at a press conference in Berlin. Germany must act 鈥渕ore modestly鈥� in this regard, as it is no longer a climate protection pioneer. 鈥淚 think we must first do our homework and prove that we鈥檙e able to reach our goals.鈥� Germany needs to win back its role as a leader by showing that a transformation is possible without social disruption, and by introducing a climate protection law. The minister said she is optimistic that the government would succeed in introducing this law, which will show how to reach the targets in the individual sectors. In the past, other ministries had left the environment ministry alone much too often when it came to the implementation of environmental protection measures. 鈥淚t will be hard work and we need everyone鈥檚 help.鈥� Schulze also addressed the ongoing work of the coal exit commission. 鈥淚f we succeed in describing a coal exit path together with our coal regions, this could be a role model for many regions around the world. So we have an international responsibility,鈥� she said.

For background, read 威力彩玩法鈥檚聽coal commission watch, and the dossier聽The energy transition and climate change.

The leader of Germany鈥檚 junior government coalition partner SPD, Andrea Nahles, has attacked the Green Party, in parliamentary opposition, for pursuing a climate policy 鈥渢hat does not care about people in coal regions,鈥� Veit Medick writes on Spiegel Online. Nahles said the Green Party, which currently enjoys unprecedented support levels in polls, is pursuing a climate policy 鈥渋n which the state orders the shutdown of coal plants鈥� but leaves people in the affected regions to their own devices. While nobody denies that coal-fired power production cannot go on forever, the SPD is not available for an 鈥渦nfair attack on lignite鈥� [brown coal].听
The SPD, together with Chancellor Angela Merkel鈥檚 conservative CDU-CSU alliance, decided in 2016 to set up a commission to plan the end of coal-fired power generation in Germany.

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An agreement reached by Japan and China to set up a common standard for e-car charging technology could topple the Combined Charging System technology pushed for by German car companies, Welt Online reports. Japanese consortium Chademo and the China Electricity Council (CEC) want to develop a more powerful charging technology with a capacity beyond 500 kilowatts (KW) that would be capable of fully charging even the largest e-car batteries within just a few minutes and is supposed to be ready by 2020. 鈥淭he Sino-Japanese cooperation shifts the balance of power in the automotive industry,鈥� the article says. If this new technology becomes dominant in China at the expense of the Combined Charging System, 鈥渢his would reduce [the German companies鈥橾 prospect of becoming a world market leader.鈥�

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For background, read the dossier The energy transition and Germany鈥檚 transport sector and the article Economy minister Altmaier calls for mobility transition push.