Commission on Growth, Structural Change and Employment (German: (WSB), originally , commonly just called ''Kohlekommission'', that is ''coal commission'', in Germany) is a commission created by the

German federal government The Federal Government (, ; abbr. BReg) is the chief Executive (government), executive body of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany and exercises executive power at the Federal level (Germany), federal level. It consists of the Chancellor ...

on 6June 2018, after the governing coalition of the Christian Democrats ( CDU/

CSU CSU may refer to: Universities and university systems United States * Columbia Southern University, in Orange Beach, Alabama * California State University system * Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, Colorado * Connecticut State Univers ...

) with the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

(SPD) in February 2018. The committee was supposed to submit its final report to the federal government on 1 February 2019. Submission of the recommended measures on social and structural development and financing of States, in which

brown coal Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, Combustion, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered ...

is extracted, was expected by the end of October 2018. These measures should include

climate change mitigation Climate change mitigation (or decarbonisation) is action to limit the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that cause climate change. Climate change mitigation actions include energy conservation, conserving energy and Fossil fuel phase-out, repl ...

policy measures, especially a

fossil fuel phase-out Fossil fuel phase-out is the proposed gradual global reduction of the use and production of fossil fuels to zero, to reduce air pollution, limit climate change, and strengthen energy independence. It is part of the ongoing renewable energy tra ...

plan with a target phase-out date and measures to achieve the

greenhouse gas emission Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...

reduction goal by 2020 Germany has committed to. The commission's report was published in January 2019 recommending Germany to entirely phase out and shut down the 84 remaining coal-fired plants on its territory by 2038. While this was applauded as a success by some, others, including scientists and climate experts, argued that this still would not be fast enough, and that to prevent the climate from reaching an irreversible tipping point, the phase out must have happened by 2030 already.

See also

References

Further reading