Germany will take emergency measures to ensure it meets its energy needs after the drop in supply of Russian gas, including increased use of coal, the government said on Sunday. Economy Minister Robert Habeck said the country will try to compensate by increasing the burning of coal, a more polluting fossil fuel. “That’s bitter, but it’s simply necessary in this situation to lower gas usage,” he said. “To reduce gas consumption, less gas must be used to generate electricity. Coal-fired power plants will have to be used more instead,” the economy ministry said in a statement. Germany has been trying to fill its gas storage facilities to capacity ahead of the winter months, when gas is more urgently needed as a heating fuel. While the situation on the gas markets has become more acute in recent days, storage facilities are still able to make up the shortfall from Russia with purchases from elsewhere. Still, Habeck said the situation was serious. Russian gas company Gazprom announced last week that it was reducing supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline for technical reasons. Habeck said he believed the move was politically motivated. Germany, which has long relied heavily on energy imports from Russia, began significantly scaling back its imports because of the war in Ukraine. The government has nevertheless insisted that Russian gas will be needed for a while until alternative sources of energy, such as LNG brought in by ship, are available. Over the past months the German government has taken measures to fill gas storage facilities to 90 per cent capacity by November to ensure enough gas is available as a heating fuel throughout the winter. Habeck said storage facilities, currently at 56.7 per cent capacity, were still able to make up the shortfall from Russia with purchases from elsewhere, but nevertheless described the situation as “serious” and said further measures may be necessary. The German government recently called on citizens to cut back their energy use in light of the tense supply situation. “It’s obvious that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s strategy is to unsettle us by driving up the price and dividing us,” Habeck said. “We won’t let that happen.” Meanwhile, the Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported that the ruling coalition is working on a package of relief measures to ease the impact of rising energy costs for consumers, citing an interview with Green Party co-leader Ricarda Lang. Heatwave, coal crisis should speed up India’s renewable energy push “There will be further relief,” Lang told the newspaper. “The increased gas and electricity prices have not yet fully reached the people. But that will change by the fall and winter. We’re talking about what further relief we need to put in place then.” Additional government spending should be targeted to help those most in need, including pensioners on low incomes, Lang said. Complying with the so-called debt brake, a constitutional rule to limit government debt, again in 2023 should be of secondary concern, Lang added. “One thing is clear for us Greens: there will be no austerity in the social sphere.” Australia votes for climate action with rejection of coal-loving Morrison The debt brake has been suspended for the past three years to allow additional borrowing to help offset the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine. German Free Democrat Finance Minister Christian Lindner wants to cut spending, including subsidies, to help comply with the rule again next year. The Greens are now the most popular party in Germany’s three-way coalition, a survey by INSA polling institute for Bild am Sonntag showed. Support for the party held at 21 per cent, while the Social Democrats, the party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, dropped one point to 20 per cent.