Activists of Greenpeace and Fridays For Future demonstrate on a canal in front of the cooling tower of the coal-fired power plant Datteln 4 of power supplier Uniper in Datteln, western Germany, on May 20. INA FASSBENDER / AFP / Getty Images
The Bundestag and Bundesrat — Germany's lower and upper houses of parliament — passed legislation on Friday that would phase out coal use in the country in less than two decades as part of a road map to reduce carbon emissions.
<p>"The fossil age in Germany comes to an irrevocable end with this decision," said Economy Minister Peter Altmaier. Environment Minister Svenja Schulze called it a "great political success for all those who care about the climate-friendly future of our children and grandchildren."</p><p>The legislative package has two main features. The first establishes a legal avenue for the gradual reduction in emissions by 2038 at the latest, while the second targets regional economies that would be impacted by the phaseout.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germany-approves-coal-phaseout-by-2038/a-54040605" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/2646343538#/" target="_self"></a></em><em></em></p>
Preparing for the Future
<p>Coal-producing regions in the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg will have access to €40 billion ($45 billion) to help absorb the impact. Those funds are also expected to go towards restructuring regional economies, re-skilling workers and expanding local infrastructure.</p><p>Financial compensation is also be available to coal plant operators who face losses as a result of the early phaseout. However, compensation is contingent on operators announcing plans by 2026 to shutter plants and cease other emissions-intensive activity.</p><p>Michael Vassiliadis, who heads the IG BCE trade union, called the measures a "historic landmark." He said the package has provided a safety net for workers affected by the phase out and would provide them with the necessary support to transition to future sectors.</p>'Historic Error'
<p>However, not everyone agrees that the measures are enough to mitigate climate change.</p><p>Environmentalist activists say the legislation falls short of its ultimate aim, with Greenpeace managing director Martin Kaiser describing it as a "historic error."</p><p>German Green party chief Annalena Baerbock said the legislation was "oblivious to the future" and instead called on the government to complete Germany's coal phase out by 2030 the latest.</p><p>Earlier this year, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germans-most-worried-about-refugees-climate-change/a-51947417" target="_blank">a DeutschlandTrend survey</a> found that 27 percent of Germans believe climate change is the most pressing issue facing the country, just slightly behind refugees and immigration policy.</p><p>Germany is seeking to establish a carbon-neutral economy by 2050. The European Commission has also pushed forward with similar plans for the EU.</p>From Your Site Articles
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During a protest action on May 30 in North Rhine-Westphalia, Datteln in front of the site of the Datteln 4 coal-fired power plant, Greenpeace activists projected the lettering: "Climate crisis - Made in Germany" onto the cooling tower. Guido Kirchner / picture alliance / Getty Images
Around 500 climate activists on Saturday gathered outside the new Datteln 4 coal power plant in Germany's Ruhr region, to protest against its opening.
<p>Fridays for Future, Greenpeace, as well as German groups Ende Gelände and the German Federation for Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) were represented at the protests.</p><p>During the night into Saturday, climate activists graffitied the slogan "Climate crisis, made in Germany" on the side of the tower.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/climate-activists-protest-germanys-new-datteln-4-coal-power-plant/a-53632887" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/2646137253#/" target="_self"></a></em><em></em></p>
<p>The plant, owned by Dusseldorf-based energy company Uniper, began running on Saturday, after a nearly 10-year delay to its initial start date. It fired up just months after Germany unveiled a plan to phase out coal by 2038.</p>
<p>The protests were reported to be largely peaceful, despite several actions during the day-long event. One action included members of Ende Gelände swimming and using canoes in a canal used for cooling, while holding a floating banner with the slogan: "Shut it down."</p>
<div id="9e242" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="38e575ed16e09279dfea210cafaa44f0"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1263057783290724353" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Klimaprotest in Zeiten von #Corona ist nicht leicht. Aber wir machen es möglich, denn notwendig ist es offensichtli… https://t.co/oKazEWwaGv</div> — Luisa Neubauer (@Luisa Neubauer)<a href="https://twitter.com/Luisamneubauer/statuses/1263057783290724353">1589971416.0</a></blockquote></div>
Climate Activists Speak Out
<p>Speaking at the protest, German Fridays for Futures climate activist Luisa Neubauer said: "It's a post-factual power plant. The facts speak for themselves." She said it was a "provocation," to mark the planned coal phaseout with a new coal power plant.</p><p>"We're going to stop this power plant, we're going to bring it to a standstill, we will win this conflict," Neubauer added.</p><p>Former miners also attended the protest. "We condemn the fact that coal mining in Germany was halted and jobs were lost, only for coal now to be imported from other countries to power Datteln 4," said Sebastian Suszka, a former workers' council member.</p><p>Greta Thunberg, founder of climate activist movement Fridays for Futures tweeted that Saturday was "a shameful day for Europe.</p><div id="e0ee4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c4980f9c8b3d58f5d4075f5174690372"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1266646886896881664" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Today is a shameful day for Europe, as we open up a brand new coal power plant. We have signed up to lead the way t… https://t.co/BFX5PcGejv</div> — Greta Thunberg (@Greta Thunberg)<a href="https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg/statuses/1266646886896881664">1590827125.0</a></blockquote></div>
Germany's Coal Phaseout
<p>Earlier this year, Germany announced a roadmap to see coal phased out, at the latest by 2038. It laid out plans for eight coal-fired power plants to be taken off the grid in 2020.</p><p>It was an important step for the largest contributor of carbon emissions in the EU — accounting for more than 22 percent of the bloc's CO2 emissions. Over a third of the electricity generated in Germany comes from burning coal.</p><p>Germany's coal commission has recommended that solutions be found for coal plants that are already built but not-yet-in-use to keep them from operating.<br></p><p>The state of North-Rhine Westphalia insisted that the additional carbon dioxide emissions from the new plant would be compensated by the closure of four other power plants.</p>From Your Site Articles
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Only the paper part of a drink carton would be recycled — everything else, including the plastic coating or layer or aluminum foil, would be incinerated as residual waste. tavan amonratanasareegul / Getty Images
By Jeannette Cwienk
When it comes to recycling and recyclability, very little, it seems is straightforward — even something as seemingly simple as orange juice can present a conundrum. In Germany, many smaller shops sell drinks in cartons or plastic bottles, both of which will end up in the yellow recycling bin. But how do their recycling credentials stack up?
<p>"As far as recyclability is concerned, the plastic bottle is probably slightly better because it is likely only made from one plastic, and so is easier to recycle than a multilayer material like a beverage carton," says Rolf Buschmann, waste and resource expert with the German environmental organization BUND, who worked on the group's 2019 Plastic Atlas.</p><p>He explains that only the paper part of the drink carton would be recycled <em>—</em> everything else, including the plastic coating or layer or aluminum foil, would be incinerated as residual waste.</p>
More and More Multilayer Packaging
<p>How easy is it to recognize multilayer packaging? With drink cartons, it's usually obvious that they're made from a combination of different materials, but with other products, such as candy wrappers, it's a different story.</p><p>Such packaging can be made from a complex mix of up to 10 different films of plastic, which as Joachim Christiani, managing director of German recycling institute cyclos-HTP, explains, is <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germany-produces-record-amount-of-packaging-waste/a-51293541" target="_blank">invisible to consumers</a>.</p><p>"In recent years there's been a trend toward so-called multilayer packaging, which is extremely light and thin. It saves material as well as CO2 emissions during transport, but can't be recycled," Christiani says.</p><p>Because it is not possible to melt the different plastics together, or — at least for now — to separate the individual films from one another at recycling plants.</p>Lack of Recycled Plastic
<p>A 2017 cyclos-HTP study into the recyclability of conventional packaging waste concluded that a third of it was not recyclable, and only 40% of the remaining two-thirds was made into plastic recyclate. The rest was used as fuel <em>—</em> in other words it was incinerated.</p><p>"There was no economic or political pressure to recycle more than this amount," Christiani says. "The prescribed recycling quotas were met, and there were not nearly enough recycling plants."</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzMxNjYwMy9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MTQ4MzI5M30.HL0sO8u-CFQf1FvXt4uVkyWtp5iseVH4FmaVYGkfNEY/img.png?width=980" id="b5980" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0967b762faff5003e7a353180d4ad95e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>Another 2017 study by the chemical and waste disposal industry also shows that to date, Germany has not made much use of recycled plastic. According to the findings, plastic recyclate accounted for only 12% of the total amount of plastic processed in Germany <em>—</em> just under 1.8 million tons. The share of new plastic, on the other hand, was more than 12 million tons.</p>
Room for Greenwashing
<p>According to a 2018 survey by Germany's vzbv consumer protection association, most consumers would like to see more plastic recycling, especially when it comes to packaging.</p><p>Although some products come in packaging that is advertised as being "made from recycled material," Elke Salzmann, a resource protection officer with vzbv, says that can be misleading.</p><p>"It says nothing about how much recycled material the packaging actually contains," according to Salzmann. "And it also doesn't mean that the recycled plastic comes from collected plastic waste. It could just as well come from plastic leftovers created during the production of primary plastic."</p><p>The term "ocean plastic," which some textile and shoe manufacturers use to advertise the recycled plastic in their product lines, can also be misleading, Salzmann says.</p><p><span></span>"Plastic waste from the ocean is in much too bad a state to be recycled. Instead, they use plastic waste from beaches or riverbanks."</p>Laws Against Plastic
<p>Images of garbage choking our waters and <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/eurythenes-plasticus-a-deep-sea-crustacean-full-of-plastic/a-52663559" target="_blank">killing marine wildlife</a> have played a key role in giving plastic a negative reputation among the public, and politicians have started to act.</p><p>Many countries worldwide have introduced bans on single-use items, and in Germany, a 2019 packaging law stipulates a plastics recycling quota of 90% from 2022, up from 36%. That said, the quota only refers to how much material has to be fed into the recycling system, not how much ultimately needs to be recycled.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzMxNjYxNC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMzE4OTE0M30.8xGfBu2brG_AIp45i_q_LxZZu0nMvlFGAEWGL93Hv6M/img.png?width=980" id="79d47" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6bc3d22db4f442dacf798ac32ccc7671" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>This may be addressed in future European Union legislation. As part of its "<a href="https://www.dw.com/en/will-trains-play-a-key-role-in-the-european-green-deal/a-52263495" target="_blank">Green Deal</a>," the European Commission <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/eu-commission-aims-to-clamp-down-on-waste-with-new-law/a-52720804" target="_blank">is aiming to move toward a circular economy</a>, and has announced an action plan to conserve resources and prevent waste.</p><p>The Commission is also being advised by the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC) on how to establish new rules around the use of recycled materials.</p><p>The recommendations range from landfill and export bans on plastic waste and tax rebates for recycled products, to the introduction of a plastics tax and a legal minimum quota of recycled content in packaging.</p>
Rethinking the Whole System
<p>Although plastic is a very useful material, at the end of its life it causes many problems, EASAC environmental program director Michael Norton tells DW, adding that we have to rethink the whole system and completely change the way we use plastic.</p><p>Joachim Christiani says the packaging industry is starting to catch on. Around 70% of recycled mass can currently be generated from packaging, but that figure is expected to rise in the future.</p><p>"95% is quite feasible," says the engineer, adding that sorting facilities are currently undergoing improvements, while packaging design is also changing.</p>Clear Plastics Are Easiest to Recycle
<p>As things stand, PET bottles are easiest to recycle because they're not mixed with other materials. New bottles can therefore easily be made from the old ones and the recycling rate is high. But the color of the bottle can pose a problem.</p><p>Because plastic is sorted by type rather than color, if different colors of plastic are mixed, the resulting recyclate cannot be used for light-colored packaging, which many manufacturers want. The upshot is the introduction of new plastic instead.</p><p>Consumer and environmental associations have long called for recyclability, greater sorting purity and better sorting facilities, but their most important demand remains waste avoidance through reusable systems.</p><p>"Why melt down disposable bottles to make new disposable bottles when you can refill them up to 20 times?" Buschmann asks.</p>From Your Site Articles
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While the world tries to figure out how to reopen economies from COVID-19 lockdowns, the demand for any plans to include environmental considerations has increased drastically.
<p>The latest salvo came from an unlikely source: the business community. In Germany, powerful companies from a range of industries have called for any COVID-19-related state funding to be tethered to climate action, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-germany-climatecha/german-companies-call-for-covid-19-aid-to-be-tied-to-climate-action-idUSKCN2290LI" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>The 60 companies include ThyssenKrupp, Salzgitter, Bayer, Covestro, E.ON, HeidelbergCement, Puma, Allianz and Deutsche Telekom.</p><p>"We appeal to the federal government to closely link economic policy measures to overcome both the climate crisis and the coronavirus crisis," the 60 companies said in a letter, ahead of the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, which started on Monday, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-germany-climatecha/german-companies-call-for-covid-19-aid-to-be-tied-to-climate-action-idUSKCN2290LI" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p>
<p>The Petersberg Climate Dialogue will see environment ministers from 30 countries meeting in a two-day online conference in an attempt to make progress on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52418624" target="_blank">BBC</a> reported.</p><p>The conference will focus on how to organize a "green" economic recovery after the global lockdowns are over. The conference will also look to build international agreement on ambitious carbon cuts despite the postponement of the key conference COP26 – previously scheduled for Glasgow in November, as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52418624" target="_blank">BBC</a> reported.</p><p>The German companies that signed the letter are adamant that environmental issues not be forgotten and put on the back burner in a short-sighted attempt to ramp economies back up, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-germany-climatecha/german-companies-call-for-covid-19-aid-to-be-tied-to-climate-action-idUSKCN2290LI" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p>
<p>Already, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-coronavirus-regulating-polluters-2645582013.html" target="_self">stopped regulating polluters</a> in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The fossil fuel industry has sought government bailouts. The airline industry has lobbied to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/airlines-emissions-coronavirus-2645666607.html" target="_self">loosen its carbon restrictions</a> and has asked for waivers on jet fuel taxes. Automakers are looking for governments to relax tailpipe emissions standards. The consumer <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastics" target="_self">plastics</a> industry has used the coronavirus to seek delays of plastic bag bans and it has championed single-use plastic cutlery as a more hygienic alternative to reusable forks and spoons.</p><p>However, Markus Steilemann, head of German plastics maker Covestro, argued that government action needs to include commitments to net zero emissions. "It is about making our economy more crisis-resistant and competitive with a view to a truly sustainable, climate-neutral future," he said, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-germany-climatecha/german-companies-call-for-covid-19-aid-to-be-tied-to-climate-action-idUSKCN2290LI" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p>
<p>The German companies that wrote about the need for climate action pointed out that the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" target="_self">climate crisis</a> will shut down economies and industries as well.</p><p>"The pandemic highlights the vulnerability of our globalized economic system to threats that are not limited to regions or industries," the letter says, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-germany-climatecha/german-companies-call-for-covid-19-aid-to-be-tied-to-climate-action-idUSKCN2290LI" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported. "Climate change is a comparable challenge."</p><p>Last week, on Earth Day, Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary general, warned that the climate crisis was a far deeper problem than COVID-19.</p><p>"The impact of the coronavirus is both immediate and dreadful," he said. "But there is another, deep emergency — the planet's unfolding environmental crisis," Guterres said, as he laid out six steps for a green recovery, according to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/un-earth-day-coronavirus-climate-crisis-2645802263.html" target="_self">EcoWatch</a>.</p>
<p>The Federation of German Industries, known as BDI, said it was committed to the European goal of climate neutrality by 2050, but it warned that governments, companies and households that are feeling pinched will have less of an appetite for thinking 30 years down the road, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-germany-climatecha/german-companies-call-for-covid-19-aid-to-be-tied-to-climate-action-idUSKCN2290LI" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>"The EU's Green Deal must therefore become a Smart Deal, in which growth, employment and ambitious climate protection targets are linked as efficiently as possible via an intelligent investment and relief package," said BDI deputy managing director Holger Loesch, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-germany-climatecha/german-companies-call-for-covid-19-aid-to-be-tied-to-climate-action-idUSKCN2290LI" target="_blank">Reuters</a>.</p><p>The EU seems committed to sticking to a carbon-neutral future and a green stimulus. As the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52418624" target="_blank">BBC</a> reported, the Commission's Green Deal chief, Frans Timmermans, said every euro spent on economic recovery measures after the COVID-19 crisis would be linked to the green and digital transitions.</p><p>"The European Green Deal is a growth strategy and a winning strategy," he tweeted, according to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52418624" target="_blank">BBC</a>. "It's not a luxury we drop when we hit another crisis. It is essential for Europe's future."</p><p>However, as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52418624" target="_blank">BBC</a> noted, China seems committed to ramping up its carbon-intensive industries and President Trump has said the U.S. will prop up struggling fossil fuel firms. Even German politicians are balking at a green stimulus.</p><p>"The Green Deal was a gigantic challenge for an economy in top shape," said Markus Pieper, a German member of the European Parliament, as the BBC reported. "After the corona bloodletting, it is simply not financially viable."</p>
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In Germany's Hunsrück village of Schorbach, numerous photovoltaic systems are installed on house roofs, on Sept. 19, 2019. Thomas Frey / Picture Alliance via Getty Images
Germany's target for renewable energy sources to deliver 65% of its consumed electricity by 2030 seemed on track Wednesday, with 52% of electricity coming from renewables in 2020's first quarter. Renewable energy advocates, however, warned the trend is imperiled by slowdowns in building new wind and solar plants.
<p>The federal BDEW energy and water federation and Baden-Württemberg state's ZSW solar and hydro research center observed a 7% percent renewables jump from 44.4% in the same period last year, in comparison to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuel</a> consumption.</p><p>Wind, especially offshore wind turbines, solar panels and other sources generated 77 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) compared to 67 kWh in the first quarter of 2019.</p><p>Using the standard EU's electricity consumption measurement, Germany's total, also from conventional <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal" target="_self">coal</a>, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/natural-gas" target="_self">gas</a> and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/nuclear" target="_self">nuclear</a> plants, amounted to 148 billion kWh.</p>
<p><br>The 7% jump in renewables came despite conventional plant closures and pandemic impacts on industry, officials said, while also noting "special effects" such as record winds in February and plentiful sun in March that benefited turbines and voltaic panels.</p><p>That trend could, however, not be extrapolated for the whole of 2020, warned the BDEW and ZSW, pointing to local objectors and current investor indecision.</p><p>Some residents, arguing on health and scenic grounds, resist the building of more wind turbines and the laying of extra arterial power lines to transmit electricity captured at North Sea wind farms to Germany's industrial south.</p>
<p>The record figures stand in contrast to investment deterrents, which if not quickly removed would make Germany's target of 65% self-sufficiency unreachable, said BDEW head Kerstin Andreae.</p><p>Germany's pandemic-induced economic woes compounded the situation, Andreae added.</p><p>Given the current downturn, ZSW executive board member Frithjof Staiss contended that investors would turn to renewable energy projects that were less fraught with risk than the current "volatile share market."</p><p>The renewables record, noted the BDEW and ZSW, was achieved despite the shutdown of Germany's Philippsburg 2 nuclear power plant at the end of 2019 and the placing of brown coal power plants on standby to cover emergencies.</p><p>Using another measure, gross electricity produced, the two groups calculated that with exported electricity included in their calculation, renewable sources made up 49% of Germany's gross electricity production in the first quarter of the year.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/renewables-make-up-over-half-of-germanys-power-mix/a-52986924?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" target="_blank">DW</a>.</em></p>
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By Rebecca Staudenmaier
Yannik Weis was studying abroad in the Chinese city of Wuhan when a deadly new type of coronavirus broke out. He became one of over 100 people Germany evacuated from the area over the weekend.
Although he and many other German evacuees are feeling healthy and in good spirits, Weis told DW on Monday that coming back to Germany in light of the outbreak had been "stressful."
<p>He and 114 other evacuees are being kept in quarantine at a military base in the town of Germersheim, which is 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Frankfurt. Weis said that they've been treated well at the base and that there "is a lot of medical support."</p><p>"If we leave our rooms, we have to wear a mask. Of course we are allowed to go outside to get some fresh air, but all the time we have to wear masks," Weis said.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-german-evacuation-flight-from-china-carried-two-infected-people/a-52229955" target="_blank">Two of the German evacuees</a> who were on the flight with Weis ended up testing positive for the virus and are currently being treated at a hospital in Frankfurt.</p><p>"Everybody in the airplane wore masks all the time. So I think the risk of getting infected there was very very small," Weis said.</p><p>He added that he thinks the quarantine is a necessary step in order to stop possible spread of the outbreak.</p>
<h3>Empty Streets 'but No Panic' in Wuhan</h3><p>Prior to the outbreak and the subsequent orders to remain in doors, Weis said the busy metropolis of Wuhan was "full of life."</p><p>"Everything was full of people. And suddenly after the outbreak ... the streets were empty," Weis noted.</p><p>He added that, despite the sudden shift in daily life in the city, people reacted calmly to the changes.</p><p>"Everyone was very silent and calm, but there was definitely no panic," he said.</p><p>There have been 10 confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany so far, most of which are based in the southern state of Bavaria.</p><p>China has effectively shut down the city of Wuhan and many surrounding provinces and municipalities in a bid to halt the spread of the virus.</p><p>At least 361 people have died from the coronavirus so far, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-death-toll-overtakes-sars-epidemic/a-52235316" target="_blank">surpassing the SARS epidemic</a> that left 249 dead between 2002 and 2003.</p><p>More than 17,000 people in China are currently infected, with more than 24 countries also reporting cases.</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="86bd3497e82c20885148fb13ceb3b748"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zQf2waHZwMw?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/german-coronavirus-evacuee-describes-life-in-quarantine/a-52241442?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" target="_blank">DW</a>.</em></p>Related Articles Around the Web
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The Boxberg Power Station in Germany, which burns lignite coal, on Oct. 13, 2019. Hans-Jörg von Schroeter / Flickr
Germany reached an agreement Thursday that will allow it to stop burning coal by 2038.
<p>The national government struck a deal with the leaders of the country's coal-producing regions that will compensate workers, companies and regional governments more than 40 billion euros (approximately $44.7 billion), <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-germany-coal-idUSKBN1ZF0OS?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR16kBznDpoF6lhlsOpZe-K96qKXVHXq5_ylg6Fb4TGmc8KS4ZaF334qyXw" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>. Legislation finalizing the coal phaseout will be presented to parliament by the end of January.</p><p>"Germany, one of the strongest and most successful industry nations in the world, is taking huge steps towards leaving the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuel</a> era," Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said at a press conference reported by Reuters.</p>
<p>The deal will help Germany reach its 2030 <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate</a> goals. The country has promised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent of 1990 levels by 2030 after failing to meet an earlier goal to reduce emissions by 40 percent by 2020, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/20/world/europe/germany-climate-protection-merkel.html" target="_blank">The New York Times reported in September</a>.</p><p>However, green groups argue that the planned coal phaseout is too slow.</p><p>Ann Katrin Schneider from <a href="https://www.foeeurope.org/germany" target="_blank">Friends of the Earth Germany</a> told <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2020/01/16/germany-reaches-agreement-to-phase-out-coal-by-2038" target="_blank">Euronews</a> that the 2038 deadline was "much too late."</p><p>Christoph Bals, policy director for the environmental group <a href="https://germanwatch.org/en" target="_blank">Germanwatch</a>, agreed.</p><p>"The majority of the necessary reductions are being pushed to the end of the 2020s," he told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/16/climate/germany-coal-climate-change.html?te=1&nl=morning-briefing&emc=edit_MBE_p_20200117&section=whatElse?campaign_id=51&instance_id=15252&segment_id=20400&user_id=d8eb7cee9d3c5ab39515239b6ec54d19&regi_id=88631294ion=whatElse" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> Thursday.</p>
<p>Germany is currently the world's leading producer of brown lignite coal, the dirtiest type of coal. The government said it may move up its phaseout of brown coal to 2035, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-51133534" target="_blank">BBC News reported</a>.</p><p>To make an end to coal use possible, the government has agreed to pay up to 40 billion euros to the coal-producing regions of Brandenburg, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt in the east and North-Rhine Westphalia in the west, Reuters reported. Most of that money will go towards building new infrastructure in areas reliant on coal power and retraining workers for new jobs, according to BBC News.</p><p>Companies will be compensated 4.35 billion euros (approximately $4.84 billion), according to Reuters.</p><p>Thirty coal-fired plants in Germany will need to close. The dirtiest and oldest will shutter first, starting with one in Rhineland that will close this year. But the government is also bringing a new coal-fired plant online this year, the Datteln 4 plant that is cleaner than the older plants being retired. The new plant has angered activists, who think it moves the country in the wrong direction.</p>
<p>"Australia's forests are burning, millions of people are demonstrating for climate protection and the German government is clearing the way for a new coal power plant,'' Martin Kaiser, the managing director of <a href="https://www.greenpeace.de/" target="_blank">Greenpeace Germany</a>, told Euronews. "Nothing shows more clearly than Datteln 4 that this government can't find an answer to the climate crisis.''</p><p>However, Germany isn't only working to end its coal use. It has also promised to end its reliance on <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/nuclear-energy" target="_self">nuclear energy</a> by 2022, The New York Times reported.</p><p>In the third quarter of 2019, Germany got 14 percent of its energy from nuclear, 28 percent from coal and 42 percent from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/" target="_self">renewable energy</a>. It aims to raise the share of its electricity generated by renewables to 65 percent by 2030, according to Euronews.</p><p>Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said the country would need a "massive expansion of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wind" target="_self">wind</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/solar" target="_self">solar</a>" to enable it to transition away from both coal and nuclear.</p><p>"We are the first country that is exiting nuclear and coal power on a binding basis, and this is an important international signal that we are sending,'' she told Euronews.</p>
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The monkey house at the Krefeld Zoo in Germany burns on Jan. 1. Alexander Forstreuter / picture alliance via Getty Images
At least 30 animals died early New Year's Day in a fire at a monkey house at a zoo in Krefeld, Germany, The New York Times reported.
<p>The Great Ape House had housed orangutans, chimpanzees, lowland gorillas, rodents, marmosets and birds before it burned down a little after midnight Wednesday.</p><p>"Our worst fears have become reality," the zoo wrote in a Facebook post reported by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/01/gorillas-orangutans-and-chimps-die-in-german-zoo-fire" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>The zoo <a href="https://www.facebook.com/zookrefeld/posts/2438474122931246?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARBMm3y1ZKtzLU1LHUSzqyIRDf13K89DhF9MZJXz610OrkDM7vs5C-4oRls7tQd91YhuwlmNacRW3K5MURrboguYWYs48vIrMP08lvOTCu5U8vNfuW1RH-8Vh0iVRuFBrjjuUy4yTKMsINhRpkbWF_HM-c7uX5eZJzFCflW2Lnlz4bEPslbCWpN42adqI4b7SzBh4Hkf1KViGvWwuMQhHvU2awBvfp-oW4NRLnVcuzUipygi9ltxA5tBDPrMAfE1iMtw4grzL9bPYYczFfGjGWEw23W8l85u-OoFhzQh2rg5Fp4qoTkcEnF4yvjAbzAIeaMQW5iKHP35jvbxWQ4U4g&__tn__=-R" target="_blank">originally wrote</a> that all the animals in the enclosure had been killed, but later <a href="https://www.facebook.com/zookrefeld/posts/2439516992826959?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARDUYSoGZbTKEALubhBsl7YdSdh5RaRuIbLcKfTr0uIwwyLhYmCDnoojg6HgEBAZxyzJM7wwxEhzm8i6w_bT0_4llrWcPDYCsaeI6Iv5eEbejAj06T2n4XsZ3KEVTqsMPXSQi2myOxBNGJ70Nk9GcqVPRBAWrFYL3Eqv2hqkfE5rrTgPoVSC9Jg7RPWUmZqhnSV7nK3Tr7rR43DqF-B_8nvW71vlqvQMEYAI2pbX98mTfICvdtwXZelZ-Fr4iVLlGoTQkaHwSaYOxQ7rqWQRNTXzN0sWp9OyOLTzmVqfkwi_SnboS6lGHsdbjqQ8-ovcqO9mnbhLhGDTfU3eujIQ_w&__tn__=-R" target="_blank">discovered</a> that two chimpanzees had survived with only light wounds.</p><p>"The chimpanzees Bally and Limbo miraculously survived the devastating fire," the zoo said, according to The New York Times.</p><p>An open-air gorilla enclosure close to the destroyed monkey house was spared, along with popular silverback Kidogo and his family, The Guardian reported. However, another silverback, 48-year-old Massa, who was the oldest silverback in the European <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a> breeding program, died.</p><p>All told, the fire killed five orangutans, one chimpanzee, two gorillas and smaller monkeys and flying foxes, <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2020/01/01/monkeys-killed-in-massive-blaze-at-german-zoo" target="_blank">Euronews reported</a>.</p><p>"An unbelievable tragedy rolled us shortly after midnight," the zoo wrote of the fire, according to Euronews.</p><p>Local residents reported the fire at 12:38 a.m. Wednesday, but firefighters were not able to control the flames before they had consumed all but the scaffolding of the monkey house, according to The Guardian. However, the firefighters were able to prevent the fire from spreading to other zoo buildings, <a href="https://www.thelocal.de/20200101/fire-kills-30-animals-at-german-zoo-on-new-years-eve" target="_blank">The Local Germany reported</a>.</p><p>A video posted on social media showed the fire reaching treetops, according to Euronews.</p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6c3bce2f44e4802286d171d42e55350e"><div class="fb-video" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/welovekrefeld/videos/747452269074986/" data-allowfullscreen="true"></div></div>
<p>The zoo remained closed Wednesday and Thursday.</p><p>"[W]e would like to thank everyone for the overwhelming wave of compassion and offers of help that reach us online and offline," the zoo wrote when it announced Thursday's closure.</p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="dd5d8214a9bd29be2d06d1888b16db08"><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/zookrefeld/photos/rpp.257886014323412/2440278096084182/?type=3&theater"></div></div>
<p>Police are investigating the fire, and think it might have been caused by sky lanterns that were released into the air to celebrate the New Year.</p><p>"People reported seeing those sky lanterns flying at low altitude near the zoo and then it started burning," Gerd Hoppmann, the head of Krefeld's criminal police, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-50964956" target="_blank">told BBC News</a>.</p><p>Used lanterns were also found near the enclosure.</p><p>It is illegal to sell the lanterns in every German state except Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in the east, The Guardian reported.</p><p>The enclosure was built in 1975 and measured 21,500 square feet, according to BBC News. It was designed to mimic a tropical rainforest environment.</p>
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Germany Will Close All of Its Nuclear Power Plants, but Needs to Put Its Nuclear Waste Somewhere
02 December 2019
Energy
Nuclear Power Plant Isar II in Bavaria, Germany seen from sky. brewbooks / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
All seven of Germany's nuclear power plants are slated to close by 2022, but questions remain about where the European country can safely bury nearly 28,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste that will stay there for the next million years, as CNN reported.
<p>The decision to close the country's nuclear plants came after the Fukushima disaster in Japan in March 2011. Japan is still struggling to cool and to contain the nuclear waste from the plant, which is part of the reason that Germany is wrestling with the puzzle of where to offload nearly 2,000 containers of nuclear waste, which measures about six Big Bens.</p>
<p>The site that Germany chooses for the nuclear waste must be completely impervious to water and safe enough not to leak in the event of an earthquake, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/30/europe/germany-nuclear-waste-grm-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported. </p>
<p>It needs to find a repository that "offers the best possible safety and security for a period of a million years," said Germany's Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/30/europe/germany-nuclear-waste-grm-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>. </p>
<p>Professor Miranda Schreurs, who is part of the team searching for a storage site, called the puzzle a "wicked problem," and added that the storage site needs to be beyond rock solid. There are remarkable technological challenges in solving the issue, such as transporting the waste, finding a way to encase it, and even letting generations far off in the future know that it is there, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/30/europe/germany-nuclear-waste-grm-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>. </p>
<p>"We need to find a way to tell them 'curiosity is not good here,'" said Schreurs to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/30/europe/germany-nuclear-waste-grm-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>. She added that the site must be "very, very stable. It can't have earthquakes, it can't have any signs of water flow, it can't be very porous rock." </p>
<p>Ideally, Germany would store the waste in granite, but the country does not have rich deposits of granite, according to India-based <a href="https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/rest-of-the-world-news/germany-to-close-all-its-nuclear-power-plants-in-coming-years.html" target="_blank">Republic World</a>.</p>
<p>However, all those problems need to be solved in tandem with a communications challenge — how Germany will convince one of its communities to bury the nuclear waste in its backyard. </p>
<p>The challenges for a nuclear graveyard need to be solved by the government's deadline of 2031 when a final repository for all the nuclear waste must be chosen. The project of transporting and securing the waste will then continue for generations. The storage facility is scheduled to be sealed somewhere between 2130 and 2170, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/30/europe/germany-nuclear-waste-grm-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>. </p>
<p>The scientists and policy makers have a short window for finding an appropriate site for the waste that is sure to rankle a voting bloc somewhere within the country. Germany has vowed not to export the waste, but it faces deep skepticism and mistrust at home after an ignominious history with storage sties, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/30/europe/germany-nuclear-waste-grm-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>. </p>
<p>Salt mines in eastern Germany that were used for low- and medium-level nuclear waste are failing to reach safety standards, which raises the concern over the prospect of storing high-level waste. </p>
<p>For decades, residents in the northeast part of Germany have fought to keep high-level nuclear waste out of its area, going so far as to block train lines that were carrying nuclear waste to a temporary facility, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/30/europe/germany-nuclear-waste-grm-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported. </p>
<p>"If we did not build this big, strong and long-lasting resistance, I think the salt mine would already be used," said Kerstin Rudek, 51, who has campaigned against a permanent nuclear repository in Lower Saxony for the last 35 years, to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/30/europe/germany-nuclear-waste-grm-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>. She plans to continue her fight, adding, "they haven't canceled out Gorleben completely, so we are very suspicious it might still be chosen."</p>
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A measure that would fine parents who refuse to vaccinate their children passed Germany's parliament Thursday. Self Magazine / CC BY 2.0
A measure that would fine parents who refuse to vaccinate their children for measles close to $2,800 passed Germany's parliament Thursday, the Associated Press reported.
<p>Lawmakers approved the bill 459 to 89, with 105 abstaining. The law, which will enter into effect next March, will require that parents wishing to enter their children in preschool prove that they have been vaccinated, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/14/world/europe/germany-measles-vaccine.html" target="_blank">The New York Times explained</a>. Children at the mandatory school age of six or older must also have proof of vaccination. Parents who cannot prove this by Aug. 1, 2021 could face a fine of up to 2,500 euros (approximately $2,790), according to the Associated Press.</p><p>"A measles infection is an unnecessary threat in 2019," German health minister Jens Spahn, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/germany-vaccine-fine-2636583087.html" target="_self">who drafted the legislation</a>, said, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/14/german-parliament-approves-compulsory-measles-vaccinations" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>Spahn championed the legislation because measles has been on the rise in recent years despite the existence of the vaccine, partly because of the anti-vaccination movement. Germany has seen 501 cases so far this year, according to the Associated Press, and The Guardian reported that it saw 543 last year. In Europe as a whole, cases increased by 350 percent last year. And, in the first half of 2019, Europe saw around 90,000 cases, double the amount it had seen by the same time last year, according to The New York Times.</p>
<div id="29e0f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="B0G22Z1576661136"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1193872899859464192" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">280 cases of #measles reported by 17 countries in September.
The highest case counts were recorded in 🇷🇴 #Romania… https://t.co/3WTCQMon0k</div> — ECDC - VPD (@ECDC - VPD)<a href="https://twitter.com/ECDC_VPD/statuses/1193872899859464192">1573476455.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The German law will also require vaccinations for adults born after 1970 who work with children. Older children will need to prove they have been vaccinated by July 31, 2021, The New York Times explained.</p><p>The bill was supported by the center-right Christian Democrats and the center-left Social Democrats, according to The Guardian. The Green Party opposed the legislation because, while it supports vaccination, it thought it should be encouraged through education, not imposed by law.</p><p>Spahn, however, rejected the argument that the law infringed on individual rights.</p><p>"My understanding of freedom does not stop at my level as an individual," he said before the vote, as The New York Times reported. "It is also a question of whether I am unnecessarily putting others at risk. Freedom also means that I will not be unnecessarily put at risk and that is precisely why, from the point of view of preserving freedom, this law is a good law, because it protects freedom and health."</p><p>Other countries may now follow Germany's lead. UK health secretary Matt Hancock said in September that he was "looking very seriously" at making vaccines mandatory for students at state schools, The Guardian reported.</p><p>The rise in measles cases has also spread to the U.S., where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 1,261 cases in 31 states so far this year, The New York Times reported.</p>
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Angela Merkel visits the Volkswagen production line for the electric car ID.3, in Zwickau, Germany on Nov 4. Jens Büttne / picture alliance via Getty Images
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday she wants to see 1 million charging stations for electric cars across the country by 2030.
<p>Speaking in her weekly video podcast, Merkel said boosting the number of charging spots for e-vehicles would encourage consumers to <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/electric-cars-low-earners-may-never-get-to-drive-one/a-50517095" target="_blank">move away from internal combustion engines</a> and shift to low-emission cars.</p><p>Mobility in the future should be "<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change" target="_self">climate</a>-friendly, flexible, value for money and comfortable," Merkel said.</p><p>Germany currently has around 21,000 charging points.</p>
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<p>The government is hoping to <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/merkels-cabinet-agrees-climate-packet-environmentalists-say-its-paltry/a-50517157" target="_blank">cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in half by 2030</a>. To help meet that target, Berlin has introduced a number of measures to promote greener modes of transport, including offering subsidies of up to €4,000 ($4,400) to offset the cost of a new electric vehicle.</p><p>Merkel said further electric car buyers could be attracted if the government and industry share the cost of increased subsidies.</p><p>The chancellor's comments came ahead of a planned meeting with car industry executives on Monday.</p><p>Merkel said the event would focus on how Germany's car sector can meet emissions targets by promoting alternatives to gasoline and diesel vehicles, and how Germany's shift towards electric car production will impact workers.</p><p>"We want to take our specialist workers along on the road to a modern, climate-friendly future," Merkel said.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-merkel-wants-1-million-electric-car-charge-points-by-2030/a-51097995" target="_blank">DW</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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