Germany To Announce Coal Exit Deadline Early 2019 - Environment Minister

KATOWICE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th December, 2018) A special commission in Germany is working on a road map for phasing out coal-fired power plants and will announce the deadline for coal exit early 2019, the country's environment minister said on Tuesday.

"We have initiated a dialogue with all stakeholders in the coal exit commission. Early next year the commission will propose a road map for the phaseout and a concrete exit date," Svenja Schulze said.

Policy makers are considering alternatives for people employed in the industry, especially in regions that depend on coal, she said, in order to avoid "structural breaks."

"I am convinced that climate action can only be successful if we take the concerns of the people working and living in the coal regions seriously.

.. This is the only way to ensure that the necessary transformation is fair," she stressed.

The minister was speaking at the UN climate conference in Katowice, Poland. She confirmed that Germany would ramp up its contribution to the Green Climate Fund to an equivalent of $3.4 billion.

"We will double our contribution to the Green Climate Fund by making available another 1.5 billion Euros and we will provide an additional 70 million euros for the Adaptation Fund," Schulze said.

The UN fund was set up by 194 nations in 2010 to support developing countries in their efforts to tackle climate change. It was given a new role after the 2015 Paris agreement was reached to curb carbon emissions and is now used to mobilize resources need to keep global temperatures from rising.