GERMANY: GENERAL METADATA
Data documentation
The fiscal year in Germany coincides with the calendar year. Following OECD convention, amounts prior to 1999 are expressed as "euro-fixed series", in which the fixed EMU conversion rate (EUR 1 EUR = DEM 1.956) was applied to data initially expressed in the Deutsche Mark (DEM). In a few cases [1], the conversion into EUR was already made in official government documents.
Germany being a federal country, the data also cover the states (Lander) that are still producing hard coal (North Rhine Westphalia, NW) and those that were producing hard coal until recently (Saarland, SR). Also included are payments for the rehabilitation of lignite-mining sites in eastern Germany (see DEU_dt_13) made by the Federal Government and the states of Saxony (SN), Brandenburg (BR), Saxony Anhalt (ST), and Thuringen (TH).
Producer Support Estimate
Hard-coal mining in Germany has traditionally attracted support for geological, historical, and political reasons. Since production of hard coal remains largely uneconomic, with the country's last coal mine closing in December 2018.
Over the years, production of hard coal has been scaled back through numerous government initiatives. In the 1990s, the industry underwent various capacity-adjustment plans. Funding for these programmes was usually provided jointly by the coal-mining Land and the Federal Government, with the former accounting for about two-thirds of total payments.
Hard-coal production has generally been supported through a combination of debt-relief schemes, mining-royalty concessions, reduced pension contributions for miners and provisions guaranteeing demand for the hard coal produced (see Combined Aids in North Rhine Westphalia).
In accordance with the EU’s state-aid rules, the Federal Government does not provide any more assistance to coal-mining under article 5-3 (current production aid). In preparation for the closure of mines, most of the support is now provided in the form of early-retirement funding for coal miners.
Footnotes
[1] This applies to the support measures for which the source is Landtag des Saarlandes (2005).
OECD Companion to the Inventory of Support Measures for Fossil Fuels 2021
Nov-22
Data for 2021 are preliminary and may contain OECD-generated estimates.
Annual
Indicator
PSE: Producer Support Estimate
GSSE: General Services Support Estimate
CSE: Consumer Support Estimate
Stage
EXTRACT: Extraction or mining stage
TRANS: Transportation of fossil fuels (e.g., through pipelines)
REFIN: Refining or processing stage
GENER: Use of fossil fuels in ectricity generation
INDUS: Use of fossil fuels in the industrial sector
END: Other end uses of fossil fuels
Statutory or Formal Incidence
consumption: Direct consumption
returns: Output Returns
income: Enterprise Income
inputs: Cost of Intermediate Inputs
labour: Labour
land: Land and natural resources
capital: Capital
knowledge: Knowledge
Users of tax expenditure estimates should bear in mind that the Inventory records tax expenditures as estimates of revenue that is foregone due to a particular feature of the tax system that reduces or postpones tax relative to a jurisdiction’s benchmark tax system, to the benefit of fossil fuels. Hence, (i) tax expenditure estimates could increase either because of greater concessions, relative to the benchmark tax treatment, or because of a raise in the benchmark itself; (ii) international comparison of tax expenditures could be misleading, due to country-specific benchmark tax treatments.
Measures appearing in the Inventory are classified as support without reference to the purpose for which they were first put in place or their economic or environmental effects. No judgment is therefore made as to whether or not such measures are inefficient or ought to be reformed.
GERMANY: GENERAL METADATA
Data documentation
The fiscal year in Germany coincides with the calendar year. Following OECD convention, amounts prior to 1999 are expressed as "euro-fixed series", in which the fixed EMU conversion rate (EUR 1 EUR = DEM 1.956) was applied to data initially expressed in the Deutsche Mark (DEM). In a few cases [1], the conversion into EUR was already made in official government documents.
Germany being a federal country, the data also cover the states (Lander) that are still producing hard coal (North Rhine Westphalia, NW) and those that were producing hard coal until recently (Saarland, SR). Also included are payments for the rehabilitation of lignite-mining sites in eastern Germany (see DEU_dt_13) made by the Federal Government and the states of Saxony (SN), Brandenburg (BR), Saxony Anhalt (ST), and Thuringen (TH).
Producer Support Estimate
Hard-coal mining in Germany has traditionally attracted support for geological, historical, and political reasons. Since production of hard coal remains largely uneconomic, with the country's last coal mine closing in December 2018.
Over the years, production of hard coal has been scaled back through numerous government initiatives. In the 1990s, the industry underwent various capacity-adjustment plans. Funding for these programmes was usually provided jointly by the coal-mining Land and the Federal Government, with the former accounting for about two-thirds of total payments.
Hard-coal production has generally been supported through a combination of debt-relief schemes, mining-royalty concessions, reduced pension contributions for miners and provisions guaranteeing demand for the hard coal produced (see Combined Aids in North Rhine Westphalia).
In accordance with the EU’s state-aid rules, the Federal Government does not provide any more assistance to coal-mining under article 5-3 (current production aid). In preparation for the closure of mines, most of the support is now provided in the form of early-retirement funding for coal miners.
Footnotes
[1] This applies to the support measures for which the source is Landtag des Saarlandes (2005).
OECD Companion to the Inventory of Support Measures for Fossil Fuels 2021
Annual
Nov-22
Data for 2021 are preliminary and may contain OECD-generated estimates.
Indicator
PSE: Producer Support Estimate
GSSE: General Services Support Estimate
CSE: Consumer Support Estimate
Stage
EXTRACT: Extraction or mining stage
TRANS: Transportation of fossil fuels (e.g., through pipelines)
REFIN: Refining or processing stage
GENER: Use of fossil fuels in ectricity generation
INDUS: Use of fossil fuels in the industrial sector
END: Other end uses of fossil fuels
Statutory or Formal Incidence
consumption: Direct consumption
returns: Output Returns
income: Enterprise Income
inputs: Cost of Intermediate Inputs
labour: Labour
land: Land and natural resources
capital: Capital
knowledge: Knowledge
Users of tax expenditure estimates should bear in mind that the Inventory records tax expenditures as estimates of revenue that is foregone due to a particular feature of the tax system that reduces or postpones tax relative to a jurisdiction’s benchmark tax system, to the benefit of fossil fuels. Hence, (i) tax expenditure estimates could increase either because of greater concessions, relative to the benchmark tax treatment, or because of a raise in the benchmark itself; (ii) international comparison of tax expenditures could be misleading, due to country-specific benchmark tax treatments.
Measures appearing in the Inventory are classified as support without reference to the purpose for which they were first put in place or their economic or environmental effects. No judgment is therefore made as to whether or not such measures are inefficient or ought to be reformed.