Skip to main content

Germany invests €40 billion to transform coal regions

Published by , Editorial Assistant
World Coal,


The German cabinet is putting forward legislation allocating €40 billion to help coal-producing regions transition to sustainable economies. The money is earmarked for regions in the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and North Rhine-Westphalia, and the law is expected to pass the German parliament by the end of this year.

The money is intended for a wide range of purposes including improving broadband and other infrastructure and underwriting innovation and research. €600 million are already planned for eleven projects and initiatives, for instance, the establishment of a Centre for Advanced System Understanding, a Fraunhofer Centre for Digital Energy and an Innovation Campus for Electronics and Microsensors.

"The aim of the federal government together with the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and North Rhine-Westphalia is to develop coal-producing parts of Germany into regions of innovation," said Flérida Regueira Cortizo, energy and environmental technology expert at Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI). "This requires structural change, in which environmental and construction technologies will play a central role."

Earlier this year, the German government decided to phase out the use of coal by 2038. A special commission was convened to draw up plans for how to reconfigure the economies of Germany's traditional coal-producing regions. The proposed legislation is a direct result of that body's recommendations.

"Government economic programmes of the €40 billion scope don't come along every day," says GTAI CEO Jürgen Friedrich. "This is a massive project aiming at transforming the economies and societies of significant parts of the country. So, the opportunities for foreign and domestic companies to get involved will be many and varied."

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/mining/05092019/germany-invests-40-billion-to-transform-coal-regions/

You might also like

EMI

Electrification in Mining virtual conference

Join us on 16 April 2024 for Global Mining Review's first Electrification in Mining event is an interactive virtual conference, focusing on electrification as the future of sustainable mining and exploring the innovative approaches and technologies being developed to facilitate its implementation.

Register for FREE »

 
 
 

Embed article link: (copy the HTML code below):