Coal opencast mining: Lignite production is decreasing significantly
Published on: November 4th, 2021 / Update from: November 4th, 2021 - Author: Konrad Wolfenstein
Brown coal production will decrease significantly – Image: Pixel62|Shutterstock.com
Significant downward trend in brown coal production
Thousands of people demonstrated against brown coal mining in Lützerath on the last Sunday in October. Energy supplier RWE plans to demolish the small town in order to expand the Garzweiler II opencast mine. While hard coal mining has already stopped in Germany, according to statistics from the coal industry, millions of tons of lignite, which is considered to be particularly harmful to the climate, are still mined every year - even if there is now a clear downward trend, as a look at the graphic makes clear. This could accelerate in the medium term. This is due to rising CO2 prices in the EU, which could soon make coal-fired power generation unprofitable. “For these reasons, experts expect an end to coal-fired power in Germany around 2030,” according to an article in Deutsche Welle. This means that the lignite companies' calculations are no longer correct: "By 2030, less than a third of lignite would have to be mined in German opencast mines." However, the figures for 2021 show that the significant slump last year was probably a Corona-related exception . Up to and including September, almost 90 million tons of brown coal had already been mined.
Significant downward trend in lignite production
Thousands of people demonstrated against lignite mining in Lützerath on the last Sunday in October. Plans by energy supplier RWE call for the small village to be demolished in order to expand the Garzweiler II open pit mine. While mining of hard coal has already been stopped in Germany, according to coal industry statistics, millions of tons of lignite, which is considered particularly harmful to the climate, are still being mined every year – even though there is now a clear downward trend, as a glance at the graph makes clear. This could accelerate in the medium term. This is due to rising CO2 prices in the EU, which could soon make coal-fired power generation unprofitable. “For these reasons, experts expect an end to coal-fired power around 2030 in Germany,” according to an article in Deutsche Welle. It follows that the lignite companies' calculations no longer add up: "By 2030, less than a third of lignite would have to be produced in German open pits." Meanwhile, the figures for 2021 show that last year's significant slump was probably a Corona -related exception. Up to and including September, almost 90 million tons of lignite had already been produced.
Significant downward trend in brown coal production – Image: Statista
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