“This is a project for generations”

Reducing traffic volumes and significantly lowering emissions in Germany's transportation system is going to be an “intergenerational project,” think tank Agora Verkehrswende’s director Christian Hochfeld says in an interview with Frankfurter Rundschau. Transforming Germany’s mobility “has been a public consensus for 30 or even almost 40 years,” Hochfeld says, adding that the country nevertheless has made very modest progress on this intention. “A change in behaviour will be necessary to reduce energy demand sufficiently for covering residual demand with renewables,” he explains. According to Hochfeld, “the transition of transportation (Verkehrswende) is even more complex than the transition of the energy supply (Energiewende)” and will have to entail renouncing private cars on a large scale.

Read more on The energy transition and Germany’s transport sector in this CLEW dossier.

*Like the Clean Energy Wire, Agora Verkehrswende is a project funded by Stiftung Mercator and the European Climate Foundation.