PM: Too much coal for the coal phase-out? Lawsuit seeks to shed light on the dark
Berlin, 24 March 2022: Press release by FragDenStaat, Europe Beyond Coal and PowerShift
Too much coal for the coal phase-out? Lawsuit seeks to shed light on the dark
Berlin, 24 March 2022 - In order to disclose the background to Germany's coal phase-out, the three non-governmental organisations FragDenStaat, Europe Beyond Coal and PowerShift have filed a lawsuit with the Administrative Court of Berlin against the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection. It is about disclosing documents about the role played by the controversial Energy Charter Treaty in the coal phase-out. The Ministry has refused to release more than 100 documents in this context.
The documents requested via the Freedom of Information Act can help to disclose the background to the unusually high compensations paid to the lignite companies RWE and LEAG. As part of the lignite phase-out, the two companies will receive compensation payments of EUR 4.35 billion. Independent experts came to an appropriate compensation of 343 million euros in a calculation.[1] In the meantime, the European Commission has subjected the payments to an in-depth examination, as it has doubts about the adequacy.[2]
Last year, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy cited the lignite companies' contractual renunciation of arbitration proceedings under the Energy Charter Treaty as an important factor in establishing the amount of compensation.[3] Documents published in the course of a freedom of information request show that the Federal Government expected "time- and cost-intensive" arbitration proceedings in the event of a regulatory coal phase-out.[4] An analysis of the German lignite phase-out concludes that the Energy Charter Treaty has made this considerably more expensive and complicated.[5]
Today, the European Parliament is debating the future of the Energy Charter Treaty.[6] Leading parliamentarians have already voted in favour of withdrawing from the Treaty, as have France, Spain and Poland. Although a positioning is still pending from the new federal government, the Energy Charter Treaty will not be able to be reconciled with the requirements of the coalition agreement.[7]
Arne Semsrott, FragDenStaat: “The Federal Government must not decide on billions of euros in funding in the quiet back room. At the latest, it must now provide information on how exactly the German coal phase-out came about. The fact that the Green Ministry of Economic Affairs does not disclose this information is highly problematic."
Fabian Hübner, Europe Beyond Coal: “When lignite was phased out, LEAG and RWE received taxpayers’ money. With this lawsuit, we want to find out how it came about. Instead of giving billions to lignite companies, the federal government must use the money for a fast and fair energy transition.”
Fabian Flues, PowerShift: “The case of the German coal phase-out shows how much the Energy Charter Treaty makes the energy transition more expensive and complicated. However, the phase-out of coal is just one example of how this treaty stands in the way of a climate-friendly and equitable energy policy. That is why the Federal Government, together with the European partners, must withdraw from the agreement before the end of this year.”
material
Action “Documents relating to the Energy Charter Treaty and coal phase-out
Contact:
Arne Semsrott, Project Manager FragDenStaat, arne.semsrott@okfn.de
Fabian Hübner, Coal and Energy Campaigner, Europe Beyond Coal, fabian@beyond-coal.eu, +49 178 6337720
Fabian Flues, Policy Officer for Climate and Trade Policy, PowerShift e.V., fabian.flues@power-shift.de, +49 1590 611 3733.
[1] https://ember-climate.org/insights/research/germanys-flawed-lignite-assumptions/
[2] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/de/ip_21_972
[4] S. last document in this IFG request: https://fragdenstaat.de/anfrage/dokumente-zum-energiecharta-vertrag-und-kohleausstieg/639279/anhang/211025-UIGBescheid-NAMEIIIFinal_geschwaerzt.pdf
[5] https://power-shift.de/ect-erhoeht-kosten-kohleausstieg/
[6] From about 10:00 in the livestream at: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/plenary/en/debates-video.html
[7] In the coalition agreement, the new Federal Government agreed to limit investment protection to “direct expropriation and discrimination”. The investment protection of the Energy Charter Treaty goes far beyond that and contains extensive property rights for investors. The reform of the Treaty will hardly change that.
background
The Energy Charter Treaty is an international agreement between countries in Europe and Asia. It enables private investors in the energy sector to sue states before international arbitration tribunals for compensation. As part of the nuclear phase-out, the Federal Republic of Germany was sued by the Swedish energy company Vattenfall for about 7 billion euros in compensation. Last year, RWE and Uniper filed a lawsuit against the Dutch coal phase-out by 2030 and awarded about 2.4 billion euros in compensation. A process to reform the Energy Charter Treaty is currently underway and is expected to be completed by mid-year.
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