Environmentalists - Energy company Leag obliged to pay compensation
The German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) believes that the company itself is responsible for the compensation payments to the energy company Leag. Leag is waiting for the EU Commission to approve its billion-euro subsidy, explained the head of BUND in Saxony, Felix Ekardt, in Dresden on Wednesday. "But the company is doing little to ensure that the state aid of 1.75 billion euros is transferred." Leag must credibly and transparently disclose how the climate-friendly transformation of the company is to take place, how Lusatia is to be strengthened and how the opencast lignite mining areas are to be renaturalized and made usable again.
Ekardt warned against Leag splitting up and stowing the fossil opencast mines and power plants, including the renaturation costs, in a kind of bad bank. A bad bank is a credit institution to which particularly risky loans or securities are outsourced. "There is a massive risk that the costs of restoring the destroyed opencast mining landscapes will be passed on to society if Leag shirks its responsibility due to the foreseeable insolvency of its lignite business. However, these costs must be borne by Leag, just as it made the profits from lignite. Privatizing profits and socializing costs - that's not an option."
On Monday, the EU Commission approved compensation of 2.6 billion euros for the energy company RWE. Saxony then demanded clarity with regard to the state aid for Leag. This is part of the coal compromise. The energy companies are to be compensated for lost profits due to the phase-out of coal. According to the German Coal Phase-out Act, no more electricity will be generated from coal from 2038. In their coalition agreement, the coalition parties SPD, Greens and FDP had agreed to "ideally" bring forward the coal phase-out to 2030. RWE wants to exit early, which is why the compensation has now been approved.
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The energy group Leag is facing criticism from environmentalists for not fully addressing how it plans to use the 1.75 billion euro subsidy from the EU Commission. Felix Ekardt, the head of the German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) in Saxony, expressed concern that Leag might try to externalize the costs of restoring damaged opencast mining landscapes to societal institutions, a practice similar to how a bad bank operates.
Ekardt urged Leag to provide a transparent and credible roadmap for the climate-friendly transformation of its company, the development of Lusatia, and the renovation of opencast lignite mining areas. He accused Leag of potentially shirking its responsibility due to the forecasted insolvency of its lignite business, which would lead to the unfair burdening of society with the clean-up costs.
The EU Commission recently approved a 2.6 billion euro compensation for the energy company RWE, prompting Saxony to seek clarity on Leag's state aid. The coal compensation is part of a broader agreement to offset lost profits from the coal phase-out. According to German law, coal-powered electricity generation will cease by 2038 at the latest, with a goal to bring this forward to 2030 as agreed in the coalition agreement between the SPD, Greens, and FDP.
RWE's decision to exit from coal operations early may have motivated the compensation, as the energy companies are entitled to compensation for their losses due to the coal phase-out. Environmentalists and citizens in Brandenburg and Saxony generally oppose lignite mining while advocating for a swift transition towards renewable energy sources and environmental protection, asserting that climate concerns supersede energy sector interests.
Associations of environmentalists, like BUND, believe that the energy companies should contribute to the clean-up of mining areas, recognizing the moral obligation that comes with the profits made from lignite extraction. The climate-conscious lobby is continually pushing for a transition towards greener energy and less carbon-intensive practices, especially in prominent European nations like Germany.
Source: www.stern.de
