Effects of the energy transition and structural change on the extraction of natural resources in Germany

Climate change poses major challenges for players in politics, industry and civil society worldwide. Due to international and national plans to reduce emissions of climate-damaging greenhouse gases, the extractive industry must make a decisive contribution to achieving the goal of climate neutrality. The energy transition will have a significant impact on demand and sales of coal, oil and gas and will initiate or accelerate structural change in these industries. At the same time, the demand for natural resources for climate-neutral technologies, renewable energies, electric mobility and hydrogen is increasing (see Security of supply).

The Federal Republic of Germany is bound by various international guidelines to tackle climate change. In the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015, the global community agreed for the first time in a legally binding manner to limit global warming to 1.5° Celsius compared to the pre-industrial age. The European Union has also set concrete targets with the European Green Deal (“European Climate Law”). The core element of all agreements is a massive reduction of greenhouse gases to reduce emissions in the EU by at least 55 % by 2030 and achieve the EU’s greenhouse gas neutrality by 2050.

Legal base

To fulfil the obligations of climate protection, the Federal Republic pursues a national climate policy¹, as a result of which a number of laws have been passed in recent years

Federal Climate Protection Act

The new Federal Climate Protection Act introduced in 2019 sets the legal framework for Germany’s climate policy. It sets out the German climate protection targets in law and contains a review and follow-up mechanism to ensure compliance with the climate protection targets.

The 2021 amendment² adopted new, more ambitious climate protection targets with the aim of achieving net greenhouse gas neutrality³ in Germany by 2045. The interim targets are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 65 % by 2030 compared to 1990 levels and by at least 88 % by 2040. In addition, the land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector is to be gradually developed into a reliable dip to -25 million tonnes in 2030 and to -40 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents in 2045. The 2024 amendment⁴ abolished binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions for individual sectors, removing the obligation for these sectors to submit a sector-specific immediate action programme if targets are missed. In future, a cross-sectoral, multi-year overall calculation will be the basis for further climate protection measures as part of the follow-up. To this end, cross-sectoral annual emission totals have been introduced. The focus is now on whether greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced overall, regardless of the area in which the greenhouse gases are generated. In addition, the switch from prior-year estimates to projection data has resulted in a more forward-looking approach. At the same time, each of the energy, industry, buildings, transport, agriculture and waste management sectors must continue to make its own appropriate contribution. The basis for determining this contribution is the annual emission volumes of the individual sectors.

The Federal Climate Protection Act provides for a review and readjustment mechanism to ensure compliance with the total annual emissions in the respective decade. By 15 March of each year, the Federal Environment Agency publishes the previous year’s greenhouse gas emissions data⁵ and the projection data⁶ for all individual years up to 2030 and at least for the years 2035, 2040 and 2045. These will be reviewed by the Expert Council for Climate Issues (ERK). If, for two consecutive years, the projection data show that the total annual emissions for the years 2021-2030 have been exceeded, and if this information is confirmed by the Federal Council, the Federal Government must adopt further climate protection measures to ensure compliance with the total annual emissions (see Section 8 (1) and (2) KSG [Climate Protection Act]).

According to the Expert Council for Climate Issues, the projection data for 2025 does not show an exceedance of the total annual emissions for the years 2021 to 2030.⁷ The interim target for 2030 of a reduction of at least 65 % compared to 1990 will fall just short of being achieved according to the projection data for 2025, but it is still within reach at 63 %.⁸

The Climate Protection Act requires a climate protection programme that contains an overall plan of the federal government for climate protection policy and concrete measures.⁹ The measures for industry include the promotion of low-emission technologies, the introduction of CO₂ pricing systems, support for the research and development of sustainable technologies and financial incentives for the modernisation of industrial production processes.

The Climate Protection Act obliges the Federal Government to adopt a climate protection programme within twelve months of the beginning of a legislative period, irrespective of whether the emissions and projection data are exceeded or not (Section 9 KSG).

In July 2022, the Bundestag launched a comprehensive package of measures to improve planning and approval procedures for onshore wind energy. For example, the Act to Increase and Accelerate the Expansion of Onshore Wind Energy Systems was passed as a key component in further accelerating the expansion of onshore wind energy. This law introduces the Wind Energy Area Requirements Act (WindBG) and amends the Building Code, among other things. The main content of the regulation is a target area for onshore wind energy, which is to be implemented by the federal states. In addition, the amendments to the Federal Nature Conservation Act have standardised and simplified the assessment of onshore wind turbines in terms of species protection during the permit procedure. Moreover, the Federal/State Working Group on Soil Protection (LABO) has published a guideline on the “Soil protection requirements for the dismantling of wind turbines”.

National certificate trading for fuel emissions / EU fuel emissions trading

The European Emissions Trading System has been in place since 2005, setting a Europe-wide CO2 price for the energy sector, energy-intensive industries and intra-European aviation. The heating and transport sectors have not yet been included. This changed with the introduction of national fuel emissions trading in accordance with the Fuel Emissions Trading Act (BEHG) on 1 January 2021. The BEHG obliges companies that place fuels (heating and motor fuels) on the market to purchase emission allowances and surrender them by 30 September of the following year. The costs are usually passed on along the supply chain. As a result, the CO₂ price has a steering effect on end consumers, as more climate-friendly alternatives become increasingly attractive as prices rise.

For the introductory phase from 2021 to 2025, the legislator has provided for a fixed price system (see Section 10 BEHG). With a reliably increasing price path, citizens and business should be gradually introduced to the CO₂ price. At the same time, a trading platform for auctioning certificate trading is being set up. In 2025, an emission certificate will cost EUR 55.  From 2026, the auction phase will begin, for which a price corridor of EUR 55 to 65 is planned as a transition to free price formation on the market. The revenues from the fuel emissions trading flow into the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF) and are used to finance technology promotion and climate protection measures in Germany, as well as to refinance electricity price compensation and carbon leakage compensation under the BECV. Companies affected by competitive disadvantages resulting from national emissions trading can receive financial relief under this regulation but must invest in climate action measures in return.¹⁰

From 2027, the fuels covered in the nEHs will be largely transferred to the newly created EU fuel emissions trading scheme under Directive 2003/87/EC.

Heat Planning Act

The Heat Planning Act, which came into force on 1 January 2024, introduces systematic heat planning throughout Germany. The aim of the law is to make a significant contribution to the transition to a greenhouse gas-neutral heat supply by 2045 at the latest. This is to be achieved through coordinated planning and development of local energy infrastructures required for the heat supply and a switch to renewable energies, unavoidable waste heat or a combination of these sources.

The law obliges the federal states to draw up or have drawn up heating plans that provide citizens and businesses with guidance on which heating supply option is most suitable in their area. As a rule, the federal states will transfer this obligation to the municipalities. The heating plans should be available by mid-2026 (municipal areas with more than 100,000 inhabitants) or mid-2028 (other municipal areas) at the latest. Possible heat supply options include a central supply via heat networks or a decentralised supply, for example with heat pumps or biomass heating.

The Heat Planning Act ensures strategic planning at municipal level, while the GeoBG (09/2024 in draft form see below) ensures that technological options can be implemented in reasonable time periods. These laws complement each other and thus contribute to meeting the Federal Government’s climate targets and ensuring a sustainable, climate-friendly heat supply.

Geothermal Acceleration Act (GeoBG)

The draft law to accelerate the expansion of geothermal systems, heat pumps and heat storage facilities (GeoBG) takes up the mandate from the coalition agreement “to initiate an improved Geothermal Acceleration Act as soon as possible”.

The draft on the one hand implements the Renewable Energy Directive (RED III). On the other hand, the authorisation procedures for the generation, storage and transport of heat are generally accelerated, simplified and digitised. The draft was discussed in the Bundestag in autumn 2024 but was not implemented before the re-elections, which resulted in discontinuity.

The aim of the draft law is to remove regulatory barriers to the development of geothermal energy and the expansion of heat pumps that use lake and river water, wastewater, unavoidable waste heat, or even air, as well as heat storage systems and heat pipes. To this end, amendments are being made to mining, water and nature conservation legislation and to legal protection procedures.

The draft law was adopted by the Cabinet on 6 August and is expected to enter into force in January 2026.

Coal Phase-Out Act

The key regulations for the German coal phase-out are set out in the Act on the Reduction and Termination of Coal-fired Power Generation (Act to Reduce and End Coal-Fired Power Generation – KVBG), which came into force in August 2020 as part of the Act on the Reduction and Termination of Coal-fired Power Generation and the Amendment of Other Acts (Coal Phase-out Act). At the same time, other energy industry regulations were amended in the Coal Phase-out Act – such as the German Energy Act, the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Act, the Renewable Energy Sources Act, the Combined Heat and Power Act, etc. The aim of the KVBG is to reduce the generation of electrical energy from coal in Germany in a socially responsible manner, gradually and as steadily as possible, and to phase it out by 2038 at the latest. In October 2022, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Action and Energy of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and RWE AG agreed on key points for bringing forward the coal phase-out by eight years to 2030 in the Rhenish coalfield area. The law to accelerate the lignite phase-out in the Rhenish coalfield area, which came into force in December 2022, made the early phase-out binding. The aim is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, a secure, affordable, efficient and climate-friendly supply of electricity to the general public should continue to be ensured. The legislative package contains provisions to reduce and end coal and lignite-fired power generation, to continuously review the security of supply, to cancel CO2 certificates that become available and for an adaptation payment for older employees in the coal sector (see Subsidies and tax concessions).

The reduction in hard coal-fired power generation will initially take place gradually between 2020 and 2026 through competitive tenders for hard coal plants already participating in the electricity market.¹¹  This process was approved by the European Commission on 25.11.2020.¹² In the tendering process, the plant operators specified a bid value at which they were prepared to refrain from firing coal in their plant. By participating in the competitive process, plant operators were able to receive appropriate financial compensation for phasing out hard coal. Small lignite-fired power plants up to 150 megawatts (MW) were also able to participate in the tenders. This should enable the defined target dates of 2022 (15 gigawatts (GW) each of hard coal and lignite), 2030 (8 GW of hard coal, 9 GW of lignite) and 2038 (zero GW) to be achieved. The possible maximum price per reduced MW fell from EUR 165,000/MW (2020) to EUR 89,000/MW (2026). In the event that the statutory reduction targets for hard coal capacities are not achieved, the tendering process will be accompanied by regulatory provisions from 2024. From 2027, closures in the hard coal sector will be carried out exclusively on the basis of regulatory provisions.

To reduce and end lignite-based electricity generation in Germany, the KVBG sets out a binding plan for the decommissioning of lignite plants. Among other things, it contains mandatory decommissioning dates and regulations on compensation for the operators of decommissioned lignite plants. Accordingly, RWE will receive EUR 2.6 billion and LEAG will receive EUR 1.75 billion. The statutory regulations are accompanied by a public law agreement in which – among other regulations – the lignite operators have committed to the socially responsible decommissioning of all power plants. In accordance with Annex 2 of the Act to Reduce and End Coal-Fired Power Generation (KVBG), the decommissioning dates for the individual lignite-fired power plants range from 2020 to 2038. The agreement also contains provisions on the use of the compensation payments to cover and secure the post-mining costs as well as a comprehensive waiver of legal remedies by the operators of the lignite plants. In the Lausitz coalfield, compensation payments are made to special purpose vehicles that were set up as part of precautionary agreements between the lignite operator and the states of Brandenburg and Saxony (see Managing human intervention in nature and landscape). From 2025, the annual compensation instalments attributable to the respective special purpose vehicle are to be contributed to the special purpose vehicles by the federal government. The additional contributions made by LEAG in the years 2021 to 2024 can be partially reimbursed by the Federal Government.

On 2 March 2021, the European Commission initiated a main investigation procedure under state aid law into the appropriateness and proportionality of the compensation payments to RWE and LEAG.¹³ The compensation to RWE has already been approved by the European Commission on 11 December 2023. In the case of LEAG, the Commission agreed in principle, but is making its final decision conditional on certain conditions: For payments after 2030, the company must prove that it would have been possible to continue operating the power plants economically. The ongoing investigation has no suspensive effect on the agreed decommissioning path for the power plants. The European Commission has procedural sovereignty.

Structural Strengthening Act

The Structural Strengthening Act for Coal Regions came into force at the same time as the Coal Phase-out Act in order to mitigate the economic and structural consequences of the phase-out of coal-fired power generation and to promote economic growth in the coal regions (Structural Strengthening Act).¹⁴

An essential part is the new Coal Regions Investment Act (InvKG). Within the framework of the InvKG, the Federal Government is providing the coal regions with around EUR 40 billion for structural change. A first pillar is financial support for projects in the federal states affected by the coal phase-out. A total of up to EUR 14 billion is available for this purpose, which can be used to fund investments in lignite mining areas with up to 90 %. The possible applications are wide-ranging and range from the promotion of business-related infrastructure to tourism projects, research facilities, digitalization, urban and regional development and climate and environmental protection measures.

A second pillar covers the support of measures that fall within the exclusive competence of the federal government. Up to EUR 26 billion have been earmarked for this purpose. As part of these measures, for example, transport routes to the coal regions will be improved, research projects and centres will be funded and federal institutions will be established locally. In addition, the Federal Government has committed itself to creating around 5,000 new jobs in federal authorities and other federal institutions in the coal regions by 2028.

Additional support of up to EUR 1.09 billion will also be provided to hard coal-fired power plant locations that are structurally weak and where hard coal is of particular economic importance. The former lignite mining areas of Helmstedt and Altenburger Land will also each receive EUR 90 million.

These funding instruments aimed at investments are supplemented by the STARK federal programme, which primarily supports non-investment projects.¹⁵ This aim is to continue to support the economically, ecologically and socially sustainable transformation of coal regions with the aim of turning them into internationally visible model regions for greenhouse gas-neutral, resource-efficient and sustainable development. On the one hand, this is achieved by investing in people and their commitment (networking, education, knowledge transfer, public services, understanding of the future and innovation). On the other hand, it requires business investment in transformation technologies (such as wind, PV, H2, batteries and CCSU).

Local aspects of structural change

From 1990 onwards, there was considerable intervention in lignite mining in eastern Germany, with a drastic reduction in the number of employees in the eastern German lignite mining areas.¹⁶ Against the background of this

experience and in order to make the decision to phase out coal (see Coal Phase-Out Act) and the associated structural change socially just, the German government set up the Commission on “Growth, Structural Change and Employment”, for example, which drew up proposals for shaping the structural change in Germany based on energy and climate policy. The aim of the commission was to make recommendations for the preservation and creation of new, good jobs secured by collective agreements in the affected regions, for the secure and affordable supply of electricity and heat at all times and for the preservation and further development of the coal-mining areas into regions that remain attractive and worth living in. The social agreement on the use of coal resulted in the adoption of the Coal Phase-Out Act and the Coal Regions Investment Act (InvKG) (see above).

Coal mining and coal-fired power generation are mostly located in structurally weaker regions, where they account for a share of industrial value creation. An industrial job has indirect and induced employments in various sectors, depending on the region.¹⁷

The extraction of lignite in open-cast mines has an impact on the economic, ecological and social structure of the communities directly affected and the communities on the edge of the open-cast mines in the mining areas. The polluter pays principle applies to the influence and use of infrastructure and property. Compensation, relocation and resettlement must be arranged and paid by the mining companies. Since German lignite mining began in the early 1920s, 120,000 people have been relocated.¹⁸ Villages are still affected by the resettlement. The owners of the affected areas are compensated by the companies for the resettlement. The same applies to municipal property. Municipal facilities will be rebuilt in agreement with the affected municipalities. Rare cases of compensation for expropriation under mining law¹⁹ are stipulated by law (Art. 14(3) GG in conjunction with Section 84 et seq. German Federal Mining Act (BBergG).

In the event of an agreement under private law, the parties concerned are directly responsible for determining the amount of compensation payments; only in the rare case of a necessary expropriation/assignment of land is this determined by the authorities following a valuation by an expert. It is subject to judicial review. The agreement on the lignite phase-out path has an influence on the expansion and adaptation of open-cast mines. New buildings planned in terms of infrastructure may not be necessary.

In order to cushion the social consequences of the coal phase-out, the German government has also introduced an adaptation payment (APG) for older employees aged 58 and over in line with the recommendations of the Commission on “Structural Change, Growth and Employment”. The aim is to make it easier for these workers to retire earlier by granting an APG for a maximum of five years. Details of the APG under the Act to Reduce and End Coal-Fired Power Generation (KVBG) were regulated in separate APG guidelines by the former BMWi in agreement with BMAS and BMF dated 3 September 2020.

 

 

Renewable energies

Renewable energy sources in Germany

The Renewable Energy Sources Act provides that the use of renewable energy sources is in the overriding public interest and serves public security (see Section 2 EEG (Renewable Energy Sources Act). Renewable energy sources²⁰ make a large and growing contribution to Germany’s energy supply. In 2024, renewable energies accounted for 22.4 % of total final energy consumption.

The share is particularly high in the electricity sector. In 2024, around 54.4 % of gross electricity consumption was covered by renewable sources (284 TWh). The German government has set itself the goal of increasing the share of renewable energies in the electricity supply to 80 % by 2030 and almost completely decarbonising the energy supply by 2050, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In 2024, around 83.6 % of greenhouse gas emissions (542.9 Mt CO₂ equivalents) in Germany were attributable to the combustion of fossil fuels.²¹

As stipulated in the coalition agreement, the BMWE commissioned a monitoring programme to review the status of the energy transition and, among other things, the expansion of renewable energies as a basis for further work. According to the report, the statutory target of at least 80 % renewable electricity generation in gross electricity consumption in 2030 appears to be achievable in principle, despite the expected shortfalls in the targets for onshore wind, and in particular offshore wind capacities. In view of the expected additional demand from electrification in industry, transport and buildings, a rapid and accelerated expansion of renewable energies in the coming years remains crucial to achieving the climate policy goals. It will be important to promote renewable energies in a market- and system-friendly manner and to develop networks, renewable energy sources and decentralised flexibility in a synchronised manner.²²

Fossil-fired power plants are currently needed alongside renewable energies in order to meet the energy demand in Germany.

Some of the metals required for the energy transition, such as indium, germanium and gallium, are natural resource by-products, i.e. they are obtained as a by-product of mining another metal. For these metals, the raw

material supply control loop²³ only works to a limited extent. There is potential for such deposits in Germany and Europe, so that import dependencies could be reduced with targeted deposit development, corresponding investments and raw material extraction. The same applies to certain quarried natural resources that are being extracted for the expansion of renewable energies, such as wind power, in Germany. The ever larger wind turbines also require ever larger quantities of mineral raw materials, almost all of which come from German deposits. For almost all materials used in a wind turbine there are disposal routes that are suitable for recycling the mineral raw materials.²⁴ In view of the necessary expansion of this energy infrastructure to achieve climate protection targets, a corresponding expansion of domestic raw material extraction and processing is to be expected.²⁵

Investments in renewable energy plants amounted to EUR 32.0 billion in 2024, while the operation of existing plants generated EUR 23.3 billion in revenue. The expansion of renewable energies can create a large number of new jobs through increasing demand for electricity and heat as well as goods and services produced using renewable energies. In 2023, the Renewable Energies sector provided employment for more than 406,000 people.²⁶ The focus was on renewable energies in electricity generation. The expansion of renewables in this area is financed by remuneration and market premiums that are higher than the electricity exchange price. The difference in costs between the electricity price on the exchange and the remuneration for electricity from renewable energy plants (EEG) has so far been paid by electricity consumers via the EEG surcharge as part of their electricity bill.

The German government has also abolished the EEG surcharge as of 1 January 2023 in view of the large “cost backpack” of old systems. The EEG costs are no longer paid via the electricity bill, but from the federal budget. The government has thus also taken a major step towards reducing prices for private households and companies.

For the further expansion of renewable energies, industrial energy projects must be suitably combined with the development of renewable energies. This also applies to the German raw materials industry, which has already installed a number of projects in the wind, biomass, geothermal, solar and hydropower sectors in Germany.

Renewable energy sources are used in electricity generation as well as in heat generation and in the transport sector. The most important renewable energy source in the electricity sector is wind energy: In 2024, just under half (48.9 %) of renewable electricity was generated from wind energy. Wind energy plays a key role in the development of renewable energies towards an economically viable and climate-friendly energy supply at reasonable prices and a high level of prosperity. The use of the wind energy accounted for 27 % of Germany’s electricity consumption in 2024. Wind turbines have now been erected at various former mining sites, primarily on green spoil tips with favourable wind conditions. In addition to further expansion at suitable onshore locations and the replacement of old, smaller turbines with modern and more powerful ones – known as repowering – the expansion of offshore wind energy is becoming increasingly important. In 2024, plants with an installed capacity of 2,595 MW on land and 742 MW at sea were added. At the end of 2024, a total of 63,571 MW of wind turbine capacity were available in Germany which produced around 138,900 GWh of electricity in 2024; one fifth of this at sea.²⁷ According to the Offshore Wind Energy Act, installed capacity for offshore wind energy is to increase to at least 30,000 MW by 2030, and according to the Renewable Energy Sources Act 2023, installed capacity for onshore wind energy is to increase to 115,000 MW. According to a recent paper on “10 key measures in the monitoring report” by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of 15 September 2025, the expansion paths for renewable energies are to be based on realistic electricity demand scenarios. In view of the expansion and the ever-increasing output units (more than 10 MW per wind turbine at sea), the demand for mineral raw materials will also increase. For example, concrete is needed to build the foundations of wind turbines. This is accompanied by a corresponding increase in demand for limestone for cement production and aggregates such as gravel and sand.

Installed capacity from biomass for electricity generation has increased moderately over the past decade.²⁸ In the meantime, the total capacity of plants generating electricity from biomass is 9,600 MW, with electricity generation in 2024 amounting to around 48,60000 GWh (9.8 % of total electricity consumption²⁹, 17 % of renewable electricity generation). In addition to biogas (including biomethane, landfill gas and sewage gas), solid and liquid biomass and biogenic waste are also used to generate electricity, but biogas and biomethane are the most important biogenic energy source for electricity generation, accounting for almost two thirds (2024) of the entire biomass.

Another renewable energy source with great potential is solar power generation. More than 4.8 million photovoltaic systems³⁰ convert radiant energy directly into electricity and provided a total of around 100,000 MW of installed capacity in Germany at the end of 2024. In 2024, around 16,700 MW of power was added. As a result, electricity generation from photovoltaics is also continuing to rise, reaching a good 74,100 GWh in 2024. Photovoltaics thus covered 14.9 % of total gross electricity consumption³¹ and provided 26.1 % of the renewable electricity supply. German mining companies are also increasingly opting to use photovoltaic systems at various mining industry sites in Germany. By 2030, the total installed capacity for the use of solar radiation energy in Germany is expected to be 215,000 MW.

In addition to wind, biomass and photovoltaics, hydropower also contributed to electricity generation with around 22,200 GWh (2024).

Renewable energy sources are also increasingly being used in the heating sector. In 2024, a total of around 197,200 GWh was generated from renewable heat sources. The most important renewable energy source for heat generation, at around 120,700 GWh, is biogenic solids, predominantly wood, for example in the form of wood pellets. Biogas, biogenic waste and geothermal and environmental heat harnessed by heat pumps are also relevant renewable heat energy sources with approx. 36,300 GWh (biogas, biogenic waste) and approx. 23,900 GWh (heat pumps) of heat generated in 2024. Solar thermal energy also contributed a good 8,800 GWh to the heat supply. Deep geothermal energy is a base load-capable form of energy that makes a small but fixed contribution to electricity and heat generation (see Deep geothermal energy).

In the transport sector, biomass can reduce CO₂ emissions, especially in the form of biofuels such as bioethanol, biodiesel or biogas for cars, trucks, trains, ships and aeroplanes. Electric vehicles are also a way to reduce CO₂ emissions. In 2024, renewable energies accounted for 7.2 % of fuel consumption in Germany. Thanks to its flexible use in the electricity, heating and transport sectors, biomass is thus the most important renewable energy source overall. In 2023 (2024), around 48 % (47 %) of the total final energy from renewable energy sources was provided by the various biomass sources used for energy purposes.³²

The expansion and use of renewable energies contributes to the avoidance of greenhouse gas emissions and reduces the use of fossil fuels. The savings also reduce the proportion of necessary imports of mineral oil, natural gas and hard coal. However, despite the expansion of renewable energies, conventional power plants are currently still needed to meet the overall energy demand.

¹ See e.g.: Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) (2024): Energy Transition and Climate Protection; Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) (2025): Monitoring the Energy Transition

² For more information: Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) (2025): Federal Climate Protection Act | Laws and ordinances

³ Greenhouse gas neutrality means a balance between anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases from sources and the removal of such gases by sinks. If greenhouse gases continue to be emitted in Germany in 2045, the same amount must be removed from the atmosphere in the annual balance through negative emissions.

⁴ The Federal Government (2024): A plan for the climate.

⁵ German Federal Environment Agency (UBA) (2024): Greenhouse gas emissions.

⁶ German Federal Environment Agency (2025): Current greenhouse gas projections.

⁷ Expert Council for Climate Issues (2025): Test report on the calculation of German greenhouse gas emissions for 2024 and projection data for 2025

⁸ German Federal Environment Agency (2025): Greenhouse gas projections 2025 – compact results.

⁹ German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) (2023): Federal Cabinet adopts comprehensive climate protection programme 2023.

¹⁰ German Federal Environment Agency (2025): Understanding national emissions trading.

¹¹ Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) (2024): Information on the completed tendering procedures for the coal phase-out.

¹² European Commission (2020): State Aid SA. 58181 (2020/N) – Germany – Tender mechanism for the phase-out of hard coal in Germany

¹³ European Commission: State Aid SA.53625 (2021/C) – Germany – Lignite phase-out

¹⁴ Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) (2025): Structural Strengthening Act for Coal Regions.

¹⁵ German Agency for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA) (2025): STARK – Strengthening the transformation momentum and new beginnings in the regions and at the coal-fired power plant sites.

¹⁶ Hauke Hermann, Katja Schumacher, Hannah Förster (Öko-Institut Berlin) on behalf of the German Federal Environment Agency (2018): Employment development in the lignite industry, p. 13

¹⁷ See example DIW Econ (2022): Economic importance of the building materials and quarrying industry, including indirect and induced effects. A study by DIW Econ on behalf of the Bundesverband Baustoffe – Steine und Erden e.V..

¹⁸ German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (2019): Final report of the Commission on Growth, Structural Change and Employment

¹⁹ In that regard, the Basic Law (Article 14(3)) states: “Expropriation shall only be permissible for the public good. It may only be ordered by or pursuant to a law that determines the nature and extent of compensation. Such compensation shall be determined by establishing an equitable balance between the public interest and the interests of those affected. In case of dispute concerning the amount of compensation, recourse may be had to the ordinary courts.”

²⁰ The Working Group on Renewable Energy Sources Statistics (AGEE-Stat) provides up-to-date and quality-assured data on the development of renewable energies in Germany. See German Federal Environment Agency (2025): Renewable energy sources in figures and German Federal Environment Agency (2025) Renewable energy sources in Germany – Data on the development in 2024Unless otherwise stated, the data on renewable energy sources in this section refer to AGEE Stat.

²¹ German Federal Environment Agency (2025): Greenhouse gas emissions in Germany | German Federal Environment Agency

²² More information: Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE): Becoming climate neutral – remaining competitive

²³ For the raw material supply control loop refer to the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR): Raw material availability.

²⁴ See German Federal Environment Agency (2020): Wind turbines: Decommissioning, recycling, repowering.

²⁵ Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) (2021): Natural resources – Mining, recycling, resource efficiency – important for prosperity and jobs.

²⁶ Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) (2025): Renewable energy sources.

²⁷ See also German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) (2024): Report of the Federal-State Cooperation Committee 2024

²⁸ The National Biomass Strategy was not finalised in the last legislative period; the new Federal Government has no statement on this in the coalition agreement.

²⁹ Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) (2025): Renewable energy sources.

³⁰ Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) (2025): Renewable energy sources.

³¹ Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) (2025): Renewable energy sources.

³² AG Energiebilanzen e.V. [Working Group on Energy balances] (AGEB) (2025): AGEB annual report 2024