Energy transition needs higher political priority – head of Energiewende expert commission

Germany will likely miss several of its key energy transition goals, according to leading experts commissioned by the German economy ministry (BMWi) to monitor the progress of the country‘s energy transition. Among the three elements of the government's so-called energy policy target triangle - supply security, affordability, environment and climate – the monitoring commission noted the biggest failure in addressing climate protection sufficiently. In its non-binding advisory opinion on the ministry’s 6th Energiewende Monitoring Report, published on 27 June, the experts said that Germany also lags behind in lowering energy consumption, increasing energy efficiency, and expanding the power grid. Energy transition policy must receive a higher political priority, Andreas Löschel, head of the expert commission, told the Clean Energy Wire. He welcomed the new government coalition‘s decision to set up the commission tasked with charting the path for the country’s exit from coal, and its plan to introduce a climate protection law. However, key concrete measures, such as a reform of the energy taxes and levies system, including the introduction of a price on CO₂, were still missing, he said.

Find the econ ministry‘s press release, the 6^th monitoring report, and the expert opinion in German here.

Note: The Clean Energy Wire will publish an article on this topic later today.