Germany’s coal exit talks founder on compensation dispute

Discussions are faltering about how to shut down Germany’s lignite coal industry as company executives and government ministers struggle to agree over the politically charged issue of how to compensate industry for plant shutdowns.

Ten months after Germany set out a road map to exit coal by 2038, officials and the main utilities remain at loggerheads over setting a price for closing down operations, according to at least five people with direct knowledge of the deliberations.