Central Germany, Germany

Central Germany was the most important lignite region in Germany until the 1970s. Today, the region has the smallest number of employees in the lignite industry and lignite reserves among the three remaining coal regions. The reunification process of East and West Germany in the 1990ies has shaped the region’s socio-economic situation until now. The migration outflow from the region, in addition to a negative natural population change, led to a decline in the total population by more than 15% since 2000. The region has already experienced a severe structural change with strong socio-economic consequences in the past 30 years. After the German Coal Phase-out Act had been passed in 2020, the public discourse switched from the feasibility of a coal phase-out to the appropriate speed of the coal phase-out.

Different methodological approaches were adopted to grasp the multi-faceted aspects. According to the results of the socio-cultural component, the outmigration after the reunification changed the population structure significantly. There is a solid stigma for the region as a weak economic region with a disadvantage in competitiveness. However, the socio-psychological component finds a high level of life satisfaction, which is highly correlated with a low level of perceived stress, and high levels of resilience, and optimism. The socio-economic component reveals that regional economic inequality declined due to convergence in labour productivity in the coal industry, producing industries and services. According to the socio-political component, two main conflicts prevail—first, the speed of the coal phase-out and second, how the public transition funds are used. Finally, the interviewed stakeholders rate the transformative capacity of the region as neutral. The socio-ecological and socio-technical component shows that stakeholders from different sectors perceive the transformative capacity differently. Public sector stakeholders, for instance, consider the level of disruptive experimentation in the region as good, while representatives from civil society perceive the level of experimentation as poor.

The main findings / results so far are the following:

• The clean energy transition in Central Germany coincides with a shrinking working-age population and an increase in the average age of inhabitants of the region. Consequently, it will be harder for the territory to establish new industries and develop a clean energy industry.
• It is important to increase the attractiveness of the region to potential immigrants. However, the current popularity of right-wing parties in the region is not supporting this coping strategy.
• The selection of funded projects needs to be more transparent and better communicated.
• The most recent energy crisis due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine can cause a faster clean energy transition or a delay.