So if in future Germany decides to abandon net zero and starts using coal again, how will they get it? Grok: They would mostly have to import it. Once the major Rhenish pits (Hambach and Garzweiler) and many in Lusatia are flooded, those specific lignite reserves are effectively written off for practical purposes. Filling pits that hold billions of cubic meters of water and then later trying to dewater them to restart mining would be technically possible in theory but extraordinarily expensive, slow, and disruptive. Once the lakes exist as recreation sites, it becomes politically and practically unrealistic. Germany’s remaining unflooded domestic lignite deposits (mainly some in the east that close later) could still be used or extended if policy reversed before they are flooded, but the biggest ones in the west would be gone.⁠ Germany already has no domestic hard-coal mining (the last mines closed in 2018). Any significant return to coal power would therefore rely on imported hard coal, which Germany already buys in large quantities from the United States, Australia, Colombia, and other suppliers. Global hard-coal markets are deep and well-supplied; physical availability would not be the limiting factor.⁠ In short: the domestic lignite under the planned lakes becomes stranded. Restarting substantial coal use would mean burning imported hard coal in whatever power plants remain or are reactivated, plus any still-accessible eastern lignite. The bigger barriers would be power-plant capacity, grid constraints, and cost relative to other fuels—not a global shortage of coal.