Four of our supporting associations (BUND, DNR, EUROSOLAR and NABU) took a clear position on the agreements reached at the coal summit last week. It became clear that said environmental associations regard the results of the coal summit as a break with the coal compromise negotiated just under a year ago. Steady shutdowns of coal-fired power plants had been agreed as part of the coal compromise. However, the German government is now not complying with this, with the result that the coal phase-out is being further delayed. DNR President Prof. Dr. Kai Niebert comments: "The climate crisis is here, the climate targets will increase and the coal phase-out must come faster."

In addition, the environmental associations expressed criticism of the planned commissioning of the "Datteln 4" hard coal-fired power plant. BUND Chairman Olaf Bandt says: "It must not be the case that the German coal phase-out begins with the commissioning of the Datteln 4 power plant."

NABU and EUROSOLAR in particular are also calling for the expansion of renewable energy plants to be driven forward. Both environmental associations criticize that in the course of the coal summit no concrete plan was developed on how coal-fired electricity is to be replaced by electricity from renewable energies in the future. NABU President Jörg-Andreas Krüger comments, "How the [...] urgently needed expansion of renewable energies is to be realized with the currently discussed distance rules to wind turbines is written in the stars." Stephan Grüger, vice president of EUROSOLAR, finds even more drastic words: "If the federal government decides to have 80 percent electricity from renewable energies by 2050, not one new wind turbine has been built with it, and not one new solar plant either."

BUND, DNR, EUROSOLAR and NABU are among the supporting associations of the Green Electricity Label. The core criterion of Germany's first green electricity label is that electricity suppliers support the expansion of renewable energies with a fixed amount per kilowatt hour sold. So far, more than 1,300 energy transition projects have been realized and co-financed in this way, such as e-charging stations in Constance or biogas plants in Kenya.

Characteristics that distinguish genuine green electricity are summarized in a publicly accessible catalog of criteria and regularly adapted to current conditions. Back in 2014, the environmental associations agreed that the label would not be awarded to any company that acquired new stakes in existing or new coal-fired power plants. More than 60 energy providers have green electricity tariffs certified with the Green Electricity Label and accept its criteria. Thus, they are actively moving away from future power generation by coal-fired power. At this point, parts of the energy industry already seem to be a step ahead of the German government.