16. August 2023Overcoming political stalemates: The German stakeholder commission on phasing out coal

The future of coal remains contested in many countries, hindering necessary energy transitions. Collaborative governance approaches, such as stakeholder commissions, have been proposed as potential solutions to resolve such societal conflicts. In Germany, a stakeholder commission process managed to overcome the existing stalemate situation, leading to the adoption of a coal phase-out by 2038. A new article by Hauenstein et al. (2023) in Energy Research and Social Science analyses how the stalemate situation in the German conflict over the future of coal was overcome and how the stakeholder commission’s outcome was achieved. The findings may help to further the debate on politics of phasing out coal and achieving just transitions, and contested sustainability transitions in general. In particular, they may inform similar stakeholder commission processes in other countries or of other unresolved issues, such as the future of fossil fuel consuming industries.

Stalemate situation in the German discussion of a coal phase-out

The agreement of the Coal Commission received wide attention and was celebrated by many as a milestone to phase out coal, after several political attempts to reduce Germany’s use of coal in previous years had failed due to overwhelming resistance by supporters of a continued use of coal, both within and outside of governing parties. Particularly, the coal industry and the related trade unions, energy-intensive industries, as well as politicians in coal mining regions tried to stall any policy to reduce coal use in Germany. In sum, prior to the Commission, the situation was “highly contentious” with counteracting objectives and heated debates between different interest groups leading to a stalemate situation in the debate about the necessary coal phase-out.

Against this background, the authors analyze how the stalemate situation in the German conflict over the future of coal was overcome and how the commission’s outcome was achieved based on 18 semi-structured interviews with members of the Coal Commission. To assess this stakeholder commission process and the formation of its final recommendations, the authors applied the integrative framework for collaborative governance, introduced by Emerson et al. This framework enables the systematic and empirical assessment of collaborate governance processes.

Coal commission: Developing joint recommendations for the German coal phase-out

The “Commission on Growth, Structural Change and Employment”, hereinafter referred to as the (Coal) Commission, was established by the Federal German Government in 2018, after several previous political attempts to regulate the phase-down/phase-out of coal had failed. The Coal Commission was tasked to develop recommendations for a German coal phase-out and accompanying structural change measures. 28 members of the Coal Commission were chosen by the Federal Government to represent the different stakeholder groups (see Figure 1). The Coal Commission convened for the first time on June 26, 2018. Nine further plenary meetings and visits to the three lignite regions of Germany were held over the next few months, culminating in a final report agreed upon by 27 (out of 28) members on January 25, 2019 (see Figure 2).

The authors find that the Commission helped to find joint recommendations and overcome the existing stalemate situation by providing a safe space to build up trust and understanding which was important considering the highly contentious situation. The broadly defined mandate and the provision of public funds by the Federal Government largely defined the possible solution space for the Commission. It significantly influenced the willingness of incumbent actors to participate and agree on a phase-out by offering high compensation payments to affected regions and companies. Furthermore, the political and economic pressure and absence of other alternatives contributed to actors’ willingness to engage in the Commission and find joint recommendations. Furthermore, having shifted discussions in Germany from if to how to do a coal phase-out, paved the way for the next government to raise ambitions and start planning for a coal phase-out by 2030 instead of 2038.

Critical aspects concerning the work within the Commission are the fact that inclusive and win-win-oriented collaboration only played a limited role in the process. Instead, the final recommendations were rather the result of tough negotiations. Existing power imbalances influenced the way members could participate resulting in a domination of the decision-making process by certain members. Nevertheless, the Commission managed to overcome a decade-long stalemate that several other attempts by the government had failed to resolve.

Potential role of stakeholder commissions in sustainability transitions

From this, the authors draw the following takeaways for the potential role of stakeholder commissions in future sustainability transitions:

• A commission cannot replace the political decision-making process to initiate a transition. Only if the political objective to achieve a transition is credibly stated, potential veto players will start engage in the discussion of how to design this transition.
• The establishment of a commission at national level and the inclusion of regionally affected actors at the same time can lead to strong power imbalances due to the different experiences of the members in the negotiation process.
• The facilitator should be experienced in akin processes and be considered neutral. Facilitation experience is more important than expert knowledge.
• Sufficient time must be allocated for a transparent process, for finding a common mode of work, and for periods of reflection on the working process. Needs for changes in the working process may arise over time. Changes to procedures should be made transparently to avoid losing internal legitimacy.
• Spaces must be created for open and trustful exchange and discussion among members to allow for exploration of practical compromises beyond publicly stated red lines.

The setting up of a commission or another form of collaborative governance can, under certain conditions, contribute to advancing a transition process. It can help to bring opposing parties together, enabling them to find compromises and overcome political stalemate. The more the structures of the commission are designed to develop collaborative dynamics, the more participatory and thus legitimate is the process. A stakeholder commission process can help to increase the acceptability of the intended changes. However, it is in no way a panacea and does not replace the political process and the political decision to undertake a transition, but only can support the design and implementation of  the transition process.

© The blog text is licenced under CC BY. Figures are excluded from this license.

 

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Related Publication

You can find a publication to the coal commission in Germany here.

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Authors

Christian Hauenstein
Researcher
Europa-Universität Flensburg | Technische Universität Berlin | Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg,
Energy and Environmental Management

Isabell Braunger
Researcher
Europa-Universität Flensburg | Technische Universität Berlin
Energy and Environmental Management

Alexandra Krumm
Researcher
Europa-Universität Flensburg | Technische Universität Berlin
Energy and Environmental Management

Pao-Yu Oei
Professor
Europa-Universität Flensburg | Technische Universität Berlin
Energy and Environmental Management

Editor

Christof Arens
Senior Researcher
Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt, Energie