Expert council urges Germany to drastically reduce natural gas dependence
Clean Energy Wire
An group of energy, economy and finance experts – the Council for Energy Independence – has presented a roadmap urging Germany to prioritise independence from natural gas in its energy policy. Germany could reduce its dependence on the fossil fuel by up to 78 percent, largely through the electrification of heating for buildings and industry, the group wrote in its security-orientated energy policy report. According to the council, Germany has no economic plan to reduce dependence on natural gas quickly and in the long term, which was especially necessary following the energy crisis. Germany was a "long way from" the needed "fundamental reorientation of energy policy that draws conclusions from the crisis and reduces energy dependencies," the authors wrote.
They propose ten measures to achieve this, including the establishment of an expert commission to accelerate natural gas independence, an accelerator platform for the industrial transition, and a skilled labour campaign for the heating transition. The process should be socially just, include a strategy for the decommissioning of gas grids, and be in line with Germany's climate targets. This would require investments totalling 526 billion euros by 2045 for gas-free technologies: 482 billion euros in the building sector and around 44 billion euros in industry – the majority of which would come from the private sector, but targeted public funding was needed, too.
In the mist of its energy transition, Germany is still heavily reliant on imported fossil fuels. Gas — a less polluting fossil fuel than coal — was long seen as an important "bridge technology" to ensure electricity supply security as Germany built more renewable power capacity, and the country expected to also have Russian gas readily available in this transition to a climate neutral economy. However, following Russia's war on Ukraine and its weaponization of energy, Germany had to find other supply sources, built liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, and earmarked 200 billion euros for industry and citizens as a ‘defence shield’ against soaring energy prices.
