Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said Germany would join the Powering Past Coal Alliance on Sunday. Schulze made the announcement to German Funke media group ahead of Monday's UN climate summit, Deutsche Welle reports.

The move comes in the wake of large demonstrations across the world on Friday, led by teen climate activist Greta Thunberg and her movement Fridays for Future.

On the day of the demonstrations, Chancellor Angela Merkel and her governing coalition unveiled a new proposal to tackle climate change.

Worth more than €54 billion ($59 billion), Merkel's plan aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030, in comparison to 1990 levels.

"The coal exit is a central pillar of global climate protection," Schulze said, adding that a set of resolutions agreed to by Germany's coalition government proved that the country was "officially" committed to ending its dependency on coal.

"With that, we can finally also join the alliance of coal-exit countries," Schulze told the group of local German newspapers.

The Powering Past Coal Alliance was founded in 2017 and is comprised of 30 national governments, whose objective is to halt new construction of coal plants, end international funding for coal and adhere to the Paris Climate Agreement goals.

"When a big industrial country like Germany turns away from nuclear and coal and transitions step-by-step towards meeting its energy needs entirely with renewable energies, that sends a strong signal to other parts of the world," Schulze said.