The party “Alternative für Deutschland” (AfD) is a right-wing political party. It opposes the German Energiewende and its environmental platform is that climate change does not exist.
In its party manifesto, the AfD states that “Carbon dioxide (CO²) is not a harmful substance, but part and parcel of life.” The party opposes the Renewable Energy Act (EEG), accusing it of ruining Germany’s countryside. In the same breath, it also supports lignite mining, which not known for its beauty.
The Nochten lignite mine (Photo by SBPer, CC BY-SA 3.0)
In the 2017 German parliamentary election, 75 percent of Germans voted and the AfD won 13 percent of the vote. But because of its extreme right-wing views, the party is not part of any coalition in the German government.
The makeup of the German Parliament after the 2017 elections. Parties include the Left (purple, 69 seats), the SPD (Red, 153 seats), the Greens (green, 67 seats), the FDP (yellow, 80 seats), the CDU/CSU (black, 246 seats) and the AfD (blue, 94 seats) (Public Domain)
There are no members of the AfD on the German Coal Commission. However, it is nevertheless a strong voice for coal mining and has some worried that it will therefore gain votes in the former East, where income from lignite supports entire villages.