The expansion of a lignite mine that threatens a nearby forest has become a first touchstone of the German coal exit commission’s robustness. But despite fears that the row over the embattled Hambach Forest could gravely impede the commission’s ability to find a consensus on the future use of coal in Germany, the body’s fourth general meeting on Wednesday could see progress in terms of climate action as a new government assessment increases the pressure to reduce carbon emissions from coal... Commentators fear that the quarrel between environmentalists and energy company RWE could make finding compromise on coal more difficult... While the energy minister’s position so far had envisaged halving coal’s CO2 output by the target year, a new analysis now suggested a far more ambitious reduction in order to comply with the Paris Climate Agreement... However, the government did not specify the trajectory that could lead to the emissions reduction goal – a key to identifying plants that need to be shut down first.