On 7 February 2007, the German Federal Government, the state governments of North Rhine-Westphalia and Saarland, the Industrial Union for Mining, Chemistry and Energy as well as the RAG Corporation agreed to end subsidised coal mining in Germany by the end of 2018 in a socially acceptable manner. For this purpose, a joint agreement was developed which defines the basic parameters.

To comply with this agreement, the RAG group established the RAG Foundation as a civil-law foundation in June 2007, which got official standing by the Düsseldorf District Government on 10 July 2007.

As owner of Evonik Industries AG, the Foundation’s purpose is to bring about the phasing-out of RAG Corporation’s subsidised coal mining in accordance with the basic parameters mentioned above. For this purpose, all parties of the public authorities involved have assented to finance the RAG Corporation’s active mining termination including the corresponding financial liabilities, as well as to guarantee financing the company’s existing long-term liabilities.

Hence, the RAG Foundation and the RAG Corporation take their responsibility for the mining areas of the Ruhr and Saar regions.

A further task of the Foundation is to lead Evonik Industries AG to the capital market. As long as the Foundation owns Evonik Industries AG, it will make use of its influence to ensure an ideal economic development heeding the interests of employees and jobs.

As of 2019, the Foundation will permanently finance the RAG Corporation’s mining liabilities that are part of their long-term liabilities by making use of the proceeds generated by capitalising Evonik Industries AG.