On Friday 7 May the German Bundesrat may vote a dangerous compromise allowing business as usual pollution levels for German coal and lignite power plants. The Green regions\u2019 failure to pull the brake on this proposal would be terrible news for Germany\u2019s public health and claimed leadership in pollution standards, NGOs warn.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Bundesrat\u00a0is set to\u00a0vote on the adoption of EU pollution limits for large combustion plants at the national level, known as the 13.\u00a0BImSchV.\u00a0The item had been taken down from the\u00a0agenda of the March session following the objection of Green led regions and is now back on the table.\u00a0Back in\u00a0March,\u00a0NGOs\u00a0had\u00a0called on the Parliament\u00a0to\u00a0reject\u00a0the adoption of those standards\u00a0that are not fit to protect people\u2019s health and the environment from toxic industrial\u00a0pollution\u00a0[1].<\/p>\n
The Greens\u00a0had initially demanded\u00a0the\u00a0standards\u00a0to require more effective controls on nitrogen oxides emissions from gas turbines and at least a symbolic tightening on mercury pollution limits for\u00a0coal\u00a0combustion, however\u00a0they\u00a0now\u00a0seem\u00a0ready to endorse\u00a0an even weaker\u00a0proposal\u00a0[2].<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of the blame should go to the federal\u00a0government\u00a0for tabling\u00a0a proposal written\u00a0by and\u00a0fitting the interests of the lignite industry, but it would be a disgrace for the Green\u00a0party to give in. This would send\u202fa terrible complicity message to the rest of the EU,\u00a0showing\u00a0that\u00a0Germany is putting the\u00a0fossil industry\u00a0interest before\u00a0public\u00a0health.\u00a0The Greens must resist corporate greed,\u00a0it seems they have been fooled big time\u201d<\/em>\u202fsaid EEB Policy Manager\u00a0Christian Schaible<\/strong>,\u00a0who\u00a0has been involved in the\u00a0definition of\u00a0EU standards\u00a0on behalf of\u00a0NGOs\u00a0since\u00a0the\u00a0start.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The EU Industrial Emissions Directive requires all operators of Large Combustion Plants to comply at the latest by 17 August 2021 with emission ranges set by EU law according to the current best available techniques to prevent pollution (BATs). These emission limits should have been transposed into German law as early as August 2018.<\/p>\n
Germany\u00a0should choose to adopt stricter emission limits that would prevent thousands of premature deaths and save society \u20ac5.6 billion a year in terms of health and other air pollution-related costs just for coal combustion. However, three years later than the implementation deadline, the German government\u2019s proposal aligns to the most indulgent possible limit values to\u00a0favour\u00a0the lignite industry\u00a0[3]. This would not trigger any further abatement by German plants of toxic pollutants such as mercury (Hg) and nitrogen dioxide (NOx), and leave citizens exposed to tons of dangerous emissions that could be avoided [4]. Enforcing the strictest NOx limit would allow Germany to cut the pollution load by more than 80%.<\/p>\n
Schaible\u00a0<\/strong>said:\u00a0\u201cGerman decision makers, including the Greens,\u00a0seem\u00a0unfit\u00a0to protect citizens and the environment\u00a0from coal\u00a0pollution. Approving those weak rules for the sake of legal certainty would harm the\u00a0overall\u00a0reputation of Germany\u00a0as an environmental leader,\u00a0they should\u00a0better trust the ability of permit writers to set emission limits within the stricter\u00a0EU\u00a0emission ranges and\u00a0wait for\u00a0a new government to take back control to restart from scratch\u201d.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
With coal phase out discussions happening in several central and eastern European countries, and the European Commission possibly strengthening emission limits\u00a0in the near future, the German Bundesrat\u2019s vote has far reaching implications beyond national borders.<\/p>\n
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NOTES TO THE EDITOR<\/span><\/p>\n
[1]\u00a0https:\/\/eeb.org\/germany-close-to-miss-key-chance-to-slash-toxic-industrial-pollution\/<\/a><\/p>\n
[2]The\u00a0new\u00a0amendments tabled<\/a>\u00a0https:\/\/www.bundesrat.de\/drs.html?id=178-3-21\u00a0as a \u201ccompromise\u201d from the Green led Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg, ruled by Winfried Kretschmann, are almost aligned to the government proposal. The following changes\u00a0were made:<\/p>\n
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- For\u00a0hardcoal\u00a0plants, the initial higher level of ambition of 2\u00b5g\/Nm\u00b3 for mercury emissions, due to apply 3 years after entry force is delayed by another year and aligned up to 4\u00b5g\/Nm\u00b3 maximum EU limit for \u201csystem relevant plants\u201d<\/li>\n
- For lignite plants the situation is worse:\u202f the initial marginal improvement proposal on mercury due to apply as from 2025 (5\u00b5g\/Nm\u00b3) is weakened further to 6\u00b5g\/Nm\u00b3, meaning business as usual for all RWE lignite plants and the\u00a0Lausatia\u00a0\/ MIBRAG plants firing higher mercury containing\u00a0lignites\u00a0(e.g.\u00a0KW\u00a0Schkopau, HKW Chemnitz Nord and KW\u00a0Lippendorf, of which one unit is owned by Energie Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg AG EnBW.)\u00a0For plants with capacity <1500MWth and the high mercury input plants where this was relevant, the higher permissible EU level of 7\u00b5g\/Nm\u00b3 has been copied over from EU minimum requirements.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
A 2019 study commissioned by North Rhine Westphalia confirms that already since 2012 all RWE lignite units achieve values below 5\u00b5g\/Nm\u00b3, of which the highest one is Neurath (5\u00b5g), due to the 10mg\/kg fuel input threshold, the limit of 5\u00b5g\/Nm\u00b3 will be set anyways (see page 59 and following).\u00a0https:\/\/oekopol.de\/archiv-de\/DE_671-gutachten-im-rahmen-der-entwicklung-einer-medienuebergreifenden-quecksilber-minderungsstrategie-fuer-nordrhein-westfalen-vergabe-nr\/<\/a><\/p>\n
A very recent study commissioned by the German Federal Environmental Protection Agency (DE UBA) confirms that at least 3.3\u00a0tonnes\u00a0of mercury per year of operation of lignite power plants could be prevented on an annual basis if dedicated mercury controls would be required (achieving 80% reduction)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0https:\/\/www.umweltbundesamt.de\/publikationen\/quecksilberemissionen-aus-industriellen-quellen-teil-2<\/a>\u00a0(see\u00a0page 132, table 29).<\/p>\n
The EEB study of 2017 confirms those enormous pollution saving potential by requiring BAT levels of 1\u00b5g\/Nm\u00b3\u00a0https:\/\/eeb.org\/library\/mercury-emissions-from-coal-power-plants-in-germany-de\/<\/a><\/p>\n
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- Nothing is proposed on the more critical NOx parameter, which led Germany to vote against the EU standards in the first place. The current average in Germany is around 180mg\/Nm\u00b3 due to optimization of primary measures (boiler tuning) only. A level of 150mg\/Nm\u00b3 would have required introduction of the technique called Selective\u00a0Non Catalytic\u00a0reduction (SNCR), achieving 20-30% better abatement. A limit of\u00a0 100mg\/Nm\u00b3\u00a0or\u00a0below would have required the more effective catalytic version (SCR), enabling to cut further NOx pollution by at least 75%. See EEB study \/ briefing\u00a0here\u00a0https:\/\/eeb.org\/library\/specific-nox-briefing\/<\/a><\/li>\n
- The only positive initial ambition to tackle NOx emissions from gas turbines (cutting the limit from the proposed 30mg\/Nm\u00b3 to 10mg\/Nm\u00b3)\u00a0meant\u00a0further investment in\u00a0DeNOx\u00a0(SCR) but has been given up by the Greens as well. The proposal would allow not even built plants to sideline the SCR controls, if the operator applied for a permit before the entry into force of the law. This stance will not achieve the necessary 65% NOx reduction required under the EU NEC Directive.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n