Bangladesh, July 3 -- Germany lawmakers of the lower house of parliament on Friday voted to finalise the country's long-awaited phase-out of coal as an energy source by 2038.

Two bills, which are expected to get approval from the upper house later Friday, to shut down the last coal-fired power plant and spending some 40 billion euros ($45 billion) to help affected regions cope with the transition.

According to Germany's 'energy transition' plan - an effort to stop Europe's biggest economy off planet-warming fossil fuels and generate all of the country's considerable energy from renewable sources.

As Germany has an existing commitment to also phase out nuclear power by the end of 2022, it's harder in achieving that goal than in comparab...