Energy Giant RWE Backs Germany’s Bad-Bank Plan for Coal Exit
- New coalition wants to bring coal exit forward by eight years
- Coal companies would transfer liabilities to a separate firm
A giant excavator operates at an open-cast lignite mine, operated by RWE AG, in Garzweiler, Germany.
Photographer: Alex Kraus/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
RWE AG is backing a coal-exit plan that would see the German energy giant transfer some of its lignite assets and liabilities to a government-led firm, according to people familiar with the matter.
Hiving off some assets and the burden of cleaning up open-cast mines after they shut could facilitate an agreement to speed up the coal phase-out in Germany, said the people, who asked not to be named because the information is private. The model, if agreed on, follows the blueprint of the nuclear exit, where a state-run fund was set up to handle the disposal of atomic waste.