Turning energy around: Coal and the German Energiewende

This briefing by the Stockholm Environment Institute examines the challenges of Germany's energy transition (Energiewende), specifically focusing on the persistence of the coal sector and the resistance from powerful utilities and mining interests against decarbonization policies.

• Germany has set ambitious climate targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80–95% below 1990 levels by 2050, while phasing out nuclear power by 2022.
• Despite progress in renewable energy, coal remained a dominant power source in 2015, accounting for 42% of German electricity generation. CO2 emissions from coal combustion rose by 4.7% between 2010 and 2013.
• The Energiewende has led to increased electricity prices for households, rising from approximately 20 €cent/KWh in 2007 to nearly 29.5 €cent in 2015, partly due to the 'renewable energy surcharge' which grew from €667 million in 2000 to €21.8 billion in 2015.
• The 'big four' utilities—RWE, E.ON, EnBW, and Vattenfall—dominate the electricity market and have historically resisted the transition to decentralized renewables, though some have begun separating their renewable businesses from fossil fuel operations.
• A 2016 amendment to the Renewable Energy Law (EEG) transitioned support from feed-in tariffs to auctions. Critics argue this may favor large utilities over small-scale citizen-led projects, as small cooperatives lack the scale and expertise to compete in auctions.
• Germany is phasing out federal subsidies for hard coal by 2018, as domestic production is nearly three times more expensive than imports. In contrast, lignite remains competitive and is exempt from royalties under the Federal Mining Act.
• Coal sector stakeholders successfully lobbied against a proposed 2015 climate levy on power plants by framing the issue around job losses and 'social blackout'. The levy was replaced by a plan to retire 2.7 GW of lignite capacity in 2023 while keeping plants in a 'capacity reserve'.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2016). Turning energy around: Coal and the German Energiewende. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-DB-2016-Energiewende-and-coal.pdf

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Turning energy around: Coal and the German Energiewende. 2016. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-DB-2016-Energiewende-and-coal.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Turning energy around: Coal and the German Energiewende |date=2016 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-DB-2016-Energiewende-and-coal.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2016turning, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Turning energy around: Coal and the German Energiewende}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2016}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-DB-2016-Energiewende-and-coal.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }