In brief | 28 January '25

Reuters: Germany election 2025: Parties, polls and key issues

Here are the main parties contending, their poll standings, and the key policy issues ahead of a snap national election on 23 February.

Bloomberg: Germany fears battery boom will aggravate power-grid congestion

Germany has touted the rollout of large batteries as key to the smooth running of a clean-energy grid.

Vattenfall: Germany, a hot spot for solar farming

The coming years, Vattenfall plans to commission around 500 megawatts of solar power and 300 megawatts of large batteries each year – exclusively in combination, and many times in the form of agri-PV, the technology that enables solar power production to be combined with agriculture for better land use.

Bloomberg: Tesla, BMW sue EU after China-made EVs hit by tariffs

Elon Musk’s Tesla and BMW AG have sued the European Union’s executive, adding to a flurry of cases by Chinese carmakers attacking tariffs peaking at 45 percent on imports of electric vehicles into the bloc.

The Times: Heat in Europe ‘could kill 2.3 million people by end of century’

Scientists warn that excessive heat will overtake cold as cause of death — with Spanish cities expected to be among the most vulnerable to a warming climate.

Beyond Fossil Fuels: Capacity markets have awarded over €50bn to fossil fuel assets since 2015 — almost triple of that allocated to clean flexibility

A new report by Aurora Energy Research, commissioned by Beyond Fossil Fuels, shows that nearly 53 billion euros has been awarded to fossil fuel plants through European capacity markets since 2015.