GERMANY

Germany’s operational coal fleet capacity fell from seventh to ninth place globally by the end of 2024 and remained at that level in 2025. In 2024, Germany retired more coal capacity than any other country that year. By early 2026, Germany had retired a cumulative 33,570 megawatts (MW) of coal capacity. The country joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA) in 2019. Yet, Germany continues to operate substantial domestic coal mining operations, especially for lignite coal.

In July 2020, the German coal power exit law stipulated a coal exit by 2038 with an option to accelerate it to 2035. Several projects have had their "system relevance" extended to 2031. As summarized by Europe Beyond Fossil Fuels, the country’s plans are incompatible with the Paris Agreement, which requires rapid declines in coal power use by 2030. Following Germany’s September 2021 elections, the SPD, Greens and FDP entered into coalition negotiations and produced a consultation paper which established that a coal phaseout by 2030 is an ideal scenario, without referring to concrete steps. As an EU member state, Germany is covered by the European Union’s updated Nationally Determined Contribution (“NDC 3.0”), submitted in November 2025, which introduces an indicative 2035 emissions reduction target, reinforces the phase-down of unabated coal power, and reaffirms the objective of climate neutrality by 2050.

In September 2021, Germany was part of the coalition of national governments that launched the No New Coal Power Compact, which requires supporters to cease the permitting of new coal power plants and end new construction of unabated coal plants by the end of 2021. Following the start of the Ukraine war, Germany dipped back into its coal power reserves, bringing 8 gigawatts (GW) of coal power back into use and extending the lifetime of another 1,200 MW of coal powered capacity. However, the temporary return to coal was stipulated with an agreement with the German coal giant RWE to bring forward its regional coal phaseout to 2030.

In 2025, Germany retained 28,323 MW of operating coal capacity. An additional 1,009 MW was mothballed in the same year. Only 368 MW of capacity were retired in 2025. As of December 2025, 15,070 MW of Germany's operating coal capacity had a plant-level retirement date after 2030, and 4,601 MW of capacity had no plant-level retirement date. Almost all of Germany's mothballed coal capacity was slated to retire by 2031.