PowerSwitch

Germany has fallen behind in its ambitious goals for reducing carbon emissions. It is burning more coal than at any point since 1990.

“Is it worth it if we as a country succeed in reaching our targets in reducing carbon emissions, but sacrifice good jobs and our industrial base?”

I'll fix that for her:

“Is it worth it if we as a country succeed in reaching our targets in reducing carbon emissions, but sacrifice the worst, dirtiest jobs and their ecocidal industrial base, replacing them with clean energy jobs and a habitable planet?”

Germany is burning more coal for the same reason we are - there is not enough NG to go round and that makes coal cheaper, with NG reserved to cover for short term peaks in demand. The German power supply is still a market place and in the market coal is still king.

In the public mind there is a huge confusion between generating capacity, ie power stations, and the fuel needed to produce electricity in them. Wind and solar bypass the latter completely, but the supply of 'fuel' for them to tap into is variable.