In the short terms, Germans are rightly thinking "We'd rather get through the winter with local coal than pay Moscow" so no, this is not an environment benefit

In the short terms, Germans are rightly thinking "We'd rather get through the winter with local coal than pay Moscow" so no, this is not an environment benefit, yet. However it is a good trend in longer term - I don't think that there is desire for a long term "turn back to coal", it's just short-term expedience until a better alternative can be built up - after all, those coal plants exist already. Yes it's done under difficult conditions now as a consequence of not doing it under good conditions earlier.