christof beike is the company's last spokesman.coal terms, this is like a piece of the berlin wall. christof beike: yes, this is part of the berlin wall for us, the last coal. and we take care of this part. and nobody's allowed to take a piece of it, yeah? it's like a baby. eric: germany's transition from coal started in 2007, when the coal corporations sat down with unions and politicians and agreed to close down all the black coal mines by 2018. the deal was that no workers would be sacked. they'd all be given early retirement or found jobs in other industries. it was an heroic goal, and back then, it had nothing to do with climate change: it was all about money. ♪ eric: by the 1970s, it was cheaper to import coal than to dig it up from the ruhr's deep underground mines. the industry was surviving on government subsidies. christof: politicians decided in 2007 to pay not any longer subsidies for the coal production. and we decided to close, with a politician, this company. and they ask us how much time you need to do that without