German judges spurn coal

German justice is going green. For the first time ever, German judges have stopped the construction of a coal-fired power plant in Datteln, in the Ruhr region. Among other things, the Münster court argues, much to the satisfaction of the Tageszeitung, that the new power plant “would not contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions”. And this is not just “any old plant or any old ruling”, points out the Berlin daily: according to its builder, E.ON AG, one of the world’s biggest utilities, the plant was a prototype of a new generation of coal-fired facilities with the highest output in Europe, generating 1,100 megawatts, “almost as much as a nuclear power plant”. The only thing is the facility would have given off 0.73% of German CO2 emissions without even replacing a single existing plant. Consequently, its construction would have run counter to the objective set out in the regional development plan: to cut carbon-dioxide emissions. “The judges have done well to remind us that actions speak louder than words,” concludes the TAZ.