Deep underground in Germany's Ruhr valley, Uwe Seeger plunges a drill into the black earth just as thousands of coal miners in this region have done before him.

"My grandpa did it like this, we used it like this to destroy the big stones," he tells Foreign Correspondent.

Black coal mines like this one in Essen, which opened its first shaft in 1875, once fired the furnaces that made Germany the economic powerhouse of Europe.

But this is no longer a working mine — it's a museum, set up by Mr Seeger and some other former miners to show tourists how life once was in Germany's western industrial heartland.

That's because Germany shut down its last black coal mine in 2018.

Miners were offered a new job or an early retirement and a centuries-old way of life came to a sudden end.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 3 minutes 3 seconds 3 m 3 s Ex-miner Uwe Seeger tours a coal mine turned into a museum

"We don't have [black] coal mining in Germany anymore," says Mr Seeger. "I'm very sad about that."

But Germany is not looking back. A nation that built its fortunes on coal has decided the fossil fuel's days are numbered.

As Australia looks to expand coal exports and build new mines, like Adani's proposed Carmichael project, Europe's biggest economy is phasing out its entire coal industry for good.

Having already extinguished black coal, Germany is now doing the same to brown coal — a cheaper, dirtier fossil fuel that spews even more carbon emissions.

Berlin has announced a timetable to close not only every remaining brown coal mine but all the carbon-emitting power plants that burn coal to make electricity, by 2038.

In a grand compromise that many Australians might find hard to fathom, trade unions, energy companies, green groups and government have all agreed that the coal industry must go.

And the Government will give tens of billions of dollars to coal regions to create new jobs and industries.

From mines to museums

In the corporate foyer of German coal giant RAG, in Essen, a heaving black nugget of coal sits proudly on display.

It's one of the last hunks of black coal dragged up from the company's mine in Bottrop, in the Ruhr valley, before it was closed in December 2018.

German coal giant RAG displays one of the last pieces of black coal mined in Germany in its corporate foyer. ( Foreign Correspondent: Ron Ekkel )

"It's part of the Berlin Wall for us, it's the last coal," says RAG spokesman Christophe Beike.

"We take care of this part and nobody's allowed to take a piece of it. It's like a baby."

Germany's black coal industry was shut down with the cooperation of big coal companies like RAG. And it had nothing to do with climate change.

By the 1970s, Germany's remaining black coal deposits were buried so deep the mines were unprofitable and surviving on government subsidies.

It was cheaper for Germany to import coal from countries with lower production costs like Colombia. Germany was even buying coal from Australia.

So in 2007, the government, coal companies and trade unions struck a historic deal to wind down black coal for good.

Back in December 2018, miners kissed a chunk of coal at a press event as Germany shuttered its last black coal mines. ( Reuters: Thilo Schmuelgen )

"[The government] asked us how much time you need to do that without any problems, not to bring the people off the working market," Mr Beike said.

Mr Beike said they were given plenty of time — and money — to make the transition.

RAG maintains only a skeleton staff to administer workers' pensions and contract mine restorations. Mr Beike says only 100 workers are still in need of a job.

What is brown coal? Cheap, abundant and dirty — brown coal is a low-grade coal also know as lignite. Brown coal is softer than black coal and contains more moisture. It releases less energy and more carbon emissions when it burns. But the economics of brown coal still stack up in places like Germany. That's because lignite is often found close to the surface, making it cheap and easy to extract from open-cut mines. It can then be hauled over short distances to fuel nearby power stations.

One former miner tells Foreign Correspondent he found work as a research scientist; another has been retrained for a job as a trade union secretary.

Government subsidies were used to transform an old RAG coking plant into a World Heritage site, preserved as a piece of history for international tourists. It now has solar panels on the roof.

Black coal may have been shut down for economic reasons but a new move to phase out brown coal is purely environmental.

Renewables currently account for 40 per cent of Germany's energy generation but there are plans to increase that to 65 per cent by the end of the decade. To meet its Paris targets, the country must do more.

Unlike Australia, where the Federal Government's response to climate change is being debated after a season of catastrophic fires, there is broad agreement in Germany that coal's demise is inevitable.

The former Zollverein coal mine in Essen, Germany, has been remade as a world heritage site for tourists. ( Foreign Correspondent: Ron Ekkel )

The successful closure of the black coal industry is now providing a blueprint for how to finish the job.

Under what's known as the Coal Compromise, struck in January 2019, the rest of Germany's coal industry will soon start retiring their mines and power plants.

Corporations have been given nearly two decades to completely shut down and the Government has promised 40 billion euros ($65 billion) to coal regions to ease the transition.

This time around the upheaval will largely be felt on the other side of Germany from the Ruhr, where brown coal has provided an economic lifeline for many former East German towns since the collapse of communism.

A new front in the coal war

In the coal town of Spremberg near the Polish border, workers are bracing for the coming confrontation.

Thousands of climate activists are gathering across Lusatia, an industrial region in Germany's east, to occupy coal mines and power stations.

At a local coal power plant — slated to close in 2028 — coal workers are holding a vigil in defiance of the climate protests. Each worker ending their shift throws a lump of coal into a fire as an act of solidarity.

Climate protesters are demanding a faster exit from coal than the 2038 Coal Compromise deadline. ( Foreign Correspondent: Ron Ekkel )

Despite the Coal Compromise, a new rift has emerged between the coal industry and climate change activists who say the deal is too generous to the coal industry.

Ende Gelaende activist Daniel Hofinger says Germany has a duty to lead on climate change. ( Foreign Correspondent: Ron Ekkel )

"To suggest we continue burning coal for another 18 years is just ludicrous," Daniel Hofinger, an activist with Ende Gelaende who is joining the protests in Lusatia, said.

"We have to phase out coal in Germany right now. If we don't do that, it's going to be quite near the end of the world as we know it.

"The [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] tells us that if we continue burning coal, we're running into catastrophic climate change."

Ende Gelaende, which means "Game Over", is a radical environmental group set up specifically to stop brown coal. And it wants to stop it now.

The group does not march in the streets. It fields thousands of disciplined activists in military-style formations to occupy coal regions and shut down infrastructure.

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Ende Gelaende is non-violent but its tactics of mass invasion are devastatingly effective in outmanoeuvring police.

"The drive for climate justice didn't come from the government," Mr Hofinger said.

"It was fought for and won by a strong social movement."

But Germany has arguably gone further than most countries in its response to climate change. By 2030, it aims to reduce emissions by 55 per cent compared with 1990 levels. By 2050, it would be a 95 per cent cut.

Ende Gelaende activists were briefly stopped by police before breaking through the lines to shut down a mine. ( Reuters: Christian Mang )

Environmental critics insist the emissions reduction figures do not add up. They say if Germany wants to meet its climate goals it has to stop burning coal much sooner than 2038.

Almost a third of Germany's power still comes from dozens of coal-fired power plants burning domestic and imported coal.

Making the challenge even harder, Germany is planning to shut its last zero-emissions nuclear power plant in 2022 in response to the Fukushima disaster.

Companies like LEAG, the largest power company in eastern Germany with 8,000 employees, are warning solar and wind cannot yet be relied on to provide alternative power sooner.

"People agree and understand that times are changing," LEAG spokesman Thoralf Schirmer said.

"They understand that we need to change into a renewable world. We only want the right period to make this change successfully."

Pleading for enough time

The gathering protests have angered communities like Spremberg. Once part of the old communist state of East Germany, Lusatia's textile industry collapsed after the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification in 1989.

Spremberg mayor Christine Herntier was a representative on the commission that worked out the coal compromise. ( Foreign Correspondent: Ron Ekkel )

"Coal has done us a lot of good," Christine Herntier, the town's Mayor said.

"Unfortunately, after reunification all the other industries — the glass industry and textile industry — have been abolished."

There is still a sullen resentment against West German liberals and middle-class environmentalists. One banner hanging up outside the power plant proclaims, "We want jobs, not green fairy tales".

"What's going on now is without sense or reason," a power plant worker said of the climate protests.

"Where will the electricity come from? Nothing will happen in the dark."

Coal power plant workers are pushing back against climate activists, saying they need more time before the industry is shut down. ( Foreign Correspondent: Ron Ekkel )

Yet most coal workers support the Coal Compromise as the best hope for the region in dealing with coal's inevitable demise.

Ms Herntier was part of the commission that formulated the Coal Compromise and fought hard for a 2038 exit to allow her community time and money to adapt.

The mayor remains optimistic the 40 billion euros will create industries to replace coal jobs.

"If a country like Germany wants to achieve its climate goals and wants to complete the energy turnaround, that should probably be worth two billion per year in its budget," she said.

Lusatia is already becoming a hub for renewable energy, with solar fields and wind turbines sprouting up.

They are even hoping to attract tourists. Disused mines are flooded to form artificial lakes and developers are surrounding them with houseboats, restaurants and cycling tracks.

A mine in Germany's east has been flooded to create an artificial lake with a marina and houseboats. ( Foreign Correspondent: Ron Ekkel )

At the power plant vigil, Ms Herntier receives a cheer from coal workers as she defends the Coal Compromise.

"Yes, I have been in the commission and yes, it has not been easy for me," she said.

"I stand here today and say the compromise we negotiated is one that offers prospects for Lusatia. And I am really glad that this compromise is also supported by the Lusatians and also by the employees of LEAG."

A fragile compromise

The next day, Mr Hofinger and hundreds of Ende Gelaende activists break through police lines and snake through a forest under the cover of smoke flares. They storm a giant coal mine forcing it to close.

Other activist groups target mines, power stations and railway crossings. For 10 hours, they bring Lusatia's coal industry to a standstill.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 59 seconds 59 s Ende Gelaende activists storm German coal mine

Coal extraction and burning soon resumes but the activists' message is clear: coal is going to end, so Germany should end it now.

But the Government is also depending on a long transition period to carry the support of coal mining communities.

Whichever way the plan develops, in Germany it's no longer a question of if coal goes, only when.

Watch Foreign Correspondent's 'The Coal War' on iview and YouTube.