Merkel's `Black Gold' Loses Shine as Lignite Phase-Out Begins
- Future of plants not in reserve uncertain, Berenberg says
- Government targets coal closures to meet 2030 emissions target
A giant excavator and mining machinery operate at an open pit lignite mine, operated by RWE AG in Hambach, Germany.
Photographer: Jasper Juinen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Less than two years ago, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government dubbed lignite East Germany’s “black gold.” Last week, she reached a deal with utilities that analysts at Berenberg and B. Metzler Seel Sohn & Co. see as the start of the phaseout for the dirtiest power-plant fuel.
“The federal government is taking its gloves off,” Guido Hoymann, an analyst at B. Metzler, said by phone from Frankfurt. “That’s the beginning of the end for this type of energy production. The first step is being made.”