Environment minister wants state support for industry climate projects
Rheinische Post
Germany’s new environment minister, Svenja Schulze, wants to introduce a state support programme for climate projects in industry, she told the Rheinische Post. “Together with my cabinet colleagues from the economy [BMWi] and research [BMBF] ministries, I want to start a support programme to decarbonise the energy-intensive industries, for example steel and cement,” Schulze told the newspaper. The federal government would reimburse up to half of the costs “if a company develops an alternative technology with emission-free energy,” she said. The companies would secure their competitiveness, and the technologies could be exported, said Schulze.
Read the article in German here.
For background, read the CLEW factsheet Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions and climate targets.
U.N. Environment / Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating Centre / BNEF
As global new investment in renewable energies grew in 2017, Germany spent less on new renewable installations because the costs of offshore wind power have dropped, and the shift to auctions for onshore wind has created uncertainty, according to a report published by U.N. Environment, the Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating Centre and Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Germany spent 10.4 billion US dollars, 35 percent less than in 2016, but still the fifth largest amount globally on renewables behind China, the United States, Japan, and India. The data cover new investment commitments rather than the renewable capacity that started operating that year. Germany saw a record 5.3 gigawatts of new onshore wind capacity added to the grid in 2017. New solar PV installations climbed to about 1.7 gigawatts, from about 1.5 gigawatts in 2016.
Find the report and the press release in English here.
For background, read the CLEW dossier Germany’s energy consumption and power mix in charts.
Reuters
China’s proposed 25 percent tax on US car factory exports will hit nearly 270,000 vehicles, with German carmakers accounting for 7 billion US dollars of the 11 billion total, writes the news agency Reuters. “This is a tax on southern Germany, not the US,” analysts at Evercore ISI told Reuters. “A 25 percent additional auto tariff would represent a 1.73 billion US dollar negative tariff impact directed at southern Germany by China,” they said.
Read the article in English here.
For background, read the CLEW dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers.
dpa
Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche told the carmaker's shareholders investments in e-mobility will weigh on company results, reports the news agency dpa. “More electric cars are good for the CO₂ footprint, but not so good for our corporate earnings – at least temporarily,” said Zetsche at Daimler’s annual general meeting. The transition to emissions-free mobility was an economic challenge, he said. Diesel cars would continue to play an “important role” in lowering CO₂ emissions in transport, said Zetsche.
Read the article in German here.
For background, read the CLEW dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers.
Handelsblatt Global
Germany, which is “deservedly famous” for its Energiewende, has so far failed in honouring its commitment to the EU’s short-term climate targets, but this does not mean that the country has strayed from the EU’s, or its own, climate agenda, writes Christine Coester in an opinion piece for the Handelsblatt Global.
Read the opinion piece in English here.
For background, read the CLEW’s Easy Guide to Germany’s energy transition and the article New government gets little credit in quest to regain climate lead.
dpa / Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Security concerns are delaying the introduction of smart meters in Germany, writes the news agency dpa in an article carried by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) has yet to approve the meters’ external communication units. Nine companies have submitted their models. The BSI has so far declined to comment on the certification process for smart meter gateways, citing confidentiality reasons.
Read the article in German here.
See the CLEW dossier The digitalisation of the Energiewende for background.
Hamburg Institute / German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE)
Renewable energy technologies hold significant potential in decarbonising industrial heating and cooling processes, writes the German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE) in a press release, based on a short study compiled by the Hamburg Institute. “As more than 20 percent of Germany’s final energy consumption stems from industrial heating and cooling processes, there is a significant potential both for innovation and for climate protection,” said BEE managing director Peter Röttgen. For now, only 6 percent of the energy used in process heating and cooling is generated from renewables. The biggest potential is in lower temperature processes, says BEE.
Find the press release in German here, and the study in German here.
For background, read the CLEW dossier The energy transition and climate change.
