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Can expert commissions develop solutions for controversial issues that will enjoy broad democratic support? A team of researchers from the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) has analysed the work of Germany s Coal Exit Commission using a set of new criteria. While the authors view positively the Commission s success in reaching a compromise, they criticise its failure to deliver an outcome that promotes the common good, particularly with respect to the high cost of the coal exit and its unambitious contribution towards Germany s climate goals, as well as the lack of public participation.
On 29 April 2021, Germany s Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the provisions of the Climate Protection Act (2019) are incompatible with the constitution - a ruling that has put Germany s coal compromise back in the spotlight. The ruling has forced the government to amend its existing climate targets rather making effective climate action merely a matter for futu