Civil society groups urge Chancellor Merkel to commit to coal phase-out

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2018-10-05

Nearly 100 civil society organisations from across the world have sent a joint letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, urging her to intervene in the escalating crisis over the future of Hambach forest, and commit to a swift and just phase out of coal in Germany.

The letter comes in the wake of a petition signed by more than 800,000 people in Germany calling for Hambach forest to be saved.

Germany’s continuing reliance on coal is undermining its own climate targets and those of Europe as a whole. It is also putting at risk global efforts to achieve the 1.5C temperature goal of the Paris Agreement.

The latest science indicates that it is still possible to meet this temperature goal, but only if we act now. Greenhouse gas emissions must start falling now, and halving by 2030, to give us the best chance of limiting average global temperature rise to 1.5C. This means that coal, the most polluting fossil fuel, has to be rapidly phased out. There is no room for any expansion of coal burning.

Civil society groups from Germany, Europe and across the world, urge Mrs Merkel to retrieve the mantle of leadership on climate which Germany had during the early years of the Energiewende (energy transition). Germany owes this to itself, its European partners and the rest of the world.

Source: Greenpeace International

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