EnBW's stable development / No bonus for e-cars
“Stable development and progress with restructuring”
Germany’s third largest utility EnBW has achieved revenue of around 15.3 billion euros and an operating result (adjusted EBITDA) of around 1.64 billion euros (up by 0.2 percent) in the first nine months of 2015. This was despite a decline in the grid segment, the company stated. The operating result in the renewables sector (156.3 million euros) was up by 7 percent compared to the first nine months of 2014. “We have significantly strengthened the growth fields of renewable energies and our gas business and further reduced our dependency on conventional generation. Our operating activities also developed in a pleasingly stable manner,” CEO Frank Mastiaux said in a press release.
Read the press release in English here.
Read a CLEW dossier about utilities in the Energiewende here.
Reuters / Handelsblatt
“Schäuble says no to environment bonus”
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble continues to reject the idea of paying a premium to buyers of electric vehicles, Reuters reports. He denied a press report that ministries had agreed on an “environment bonus” of up to 5,000 euros for e-car buyers. The government is pursuing a target of one million e-cars on Germany’s roads by 2020 but is far from achieving it at the moment, the article says. Economy Mininster Sigmar Gabriel has therefore called for financial incentives for battery powered cars.
Read the article in German here.
Süddeutsche Zeitung
“Expensive diet”
New regulations taking effect in 2016 will implement stricter energy standards for buildings but representatives of the building sector are warning they could increase costs without achieving much more efficiency, Ralph Diermann reports in the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Proponents of the measure, including Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks, say the higher costs for efficiency measures will be redeemed after 20 years.
Read the report in German here.
WirtschaftsWoche
“The car chancellor”
As early as 2010, Chancellor Angela Merkel criticised California's nitrogen oxide thresholds for cars for being “harmful to the German car industry”, Mary Nichols, head of the Californian Environmental Protection Agency Air Resources Board told German weekly WirtschaftsWoche. The chancellery declined to comment on Merkel’s remark, the paper reports. Since becoming chancellor, Merkel has been seen to prevent stricter environmental thresholds for German car makers, the authors write, listing several occasions when Merkel and her cabinet have watered down and interfered with emission and CO2 limits.
Handelsblatt
“56 steps to a green economy”
China is working hard to transform its industry into a green economy, writes Stephan Scheuer in the Handelsblatt. Some German medium-sized enterprises who believe they can contribute to the transition are now doing business in the country. Waste company Alba and Sick AG, which produces sensors for emission filters, are among those who want to profit from stricter environmental standards in China.
Read the article in German here.
EurActiv / AFP
“Poland wants EU to ban Nord Stream 2”
Poland wants the European Commission to take action against the Nord Stream 2 pipeline under the Baltic Sea. German gas trader E.ON, France’s ENGIE, Anglo-Dutch Shell and Austria’s OMV have agreed to build the pipeline in partnership with Russian energy company Gazprom. Poland as well as Ukraine oppose the Nord Stream 2 plans, as the pipeline would bypass their countries to bring Russian gas directly to Germany. Incoming Polish conservative Minister for EU Affairs Konrad Szymański said the pipeline could violate the EU’s competitions rules.
Read the article in English here.
Read a CLEW dossier on the energy transition and international security here.
COP21 – The Road to Paris
The United Nations Global Compact-Accenture CEO Study
“Special Edition: A Call to Climate Action”
The majority of business leaders around the world are in favour of a long-term climate agreement to be decided in Paris in December, calling it critical to supporting private sector investment in low-carbon solutions, according to a study by the United Nations Global Compact and Accenture. Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser says in the study: "The opportunity is clear: We have the technologies, we have the business cases, and we have the responsibility. Now all we need is the commitment". Kurt Bock, CEO at German chemicals company BASF said: “At COP21, politicians have the chance to set up a long-term, reliable emission reduction framework, enabled by low-carbon technologies... Creative minds in business all over the world would have a clear picture of the low-carbon future they are innovating for, finding answers to the substantial challenges we are facing.”
Find the survey in English here.
German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW)
“Climate action needs clear financial commitment”
The BDEW has citicised the decision by the European finance ministers not to make concrete commitments for climate finance in developing countries. “Climate action can only work globally. With a view to the upcoming climate summit in Paris, the European Union should act as a good example and make binding commitments on financing the climate funds […],” BDEW head Hildegard Müller said in a press release. The BDEW stood by its target of achieving a carbon-neutral energy supply in Europe by 2050.
Read the press release in German here.
Read a Climate Home article on the EU finance minister’s decision in English here.
