European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas has slated German plans to build at least 26 new power stations fired with low-energy, high-polluting brown coal, in an interview published in the Sunday edition of Germany's mass-circulation Bild newspaper, according to DPA. "Brown coal is the least favourable choice when it comes to greenhouse gases," Dimas said. Brown coal, also known as lignite, produces less energy and more carbon dioxide per tonne than do hard coals such as anthracite "Those still building new coal-fired power stations must be aware that this policy could be expensive for all of us in the long term," Dimas added. The commissioner was speaking following the publication in Bangkok on Friday of a report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The report said the target of containing global temperature rises to an average 2 Celsius degrees in the long term was achievable but required rapid action to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. Dimas noted that the EU, under Germany's presidency, had earlier this year committed the bloc to cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 20 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020. German power companies plan to build 26 coal-fired power stations in the years ahead, making use of the country's large lignite reserves.
