"Germans want more renewables" / 121 million litres of diesel each day
Renewable Energies Agency / Kantar Emnid
Ninety-five percent of Germans say that increased use and expansion of renewable energy is important or very important, according to a representative survey by Kantar Emnid, commissioned by Renewable Energies Agency (AEE). It also found broad support (65 percent) for renewable energy installations in respondents’ direct neighbourhoods (5km radius), which increased further if they already had experience with such installations in their area.
Find the results in German here.
For past years’ survey results on the Energiewende, read the CLEW factsheet Polls reveal citizens' support for Energiewende.
Reuters / Clean Energy Wire
Lower Saxony, Germany’s largest wind power state and home to carmaker Volkswagen, will hold new elections on 15 October after a Greens party member defected to the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU). The move had cost the current government coalition of Social Democrats (SPD) and the Green Party its one-seat majority and “marks the latest in a series of setbacks for the centre-left SPD, which is trailing the conservatives by a double-digit score in national polls”, writes Andrea Shalal for Reuters.
Read a Reuters article in English here.
For background on the 2017 election year, read the CLEW dossier Vote2017 - German elections and the Energiewende.
Uniper / Reuters
German energy company and E.ON’s fossil carve-out Uniper raised its earnings outlook for 2017 to an adjusted EBIT of 1-1.2 billion euros, after a “very solid performance” in the first half of the year, Uniper writes in a press release. Christoph Steitz writes in an article for Reuters that Uniper “displayed strength to potential buyers of a 47 percent stake former parent E.ON is planning to sell soon”.
Read the Reuters article in English here and the Uniper press release in English here.
For background, read the CLEW dossier Utilities and the energy transition.
Reuters
The EU Commission is not planning to introduce e-car sales quotas, said a Commission spokesperson in reaction to reports by German daily Handelsblatt, writes news agency Reuters.
Read the article in English here.
Find background material on the carmakers fight for the top-spot in e-mobility in the dossier, and more on the diesel summit’s outcome in the CLEW article German carmakers pledge diesel software updates and buyer’s bonus.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Germany’s largest oil and gas producer Wintershall is sticking to plans to build the Russian-German gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 despite possible US sanctions, reports Bernd Freytag in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. “Even in times that are not easy, politically, we clearly commit to the Russian-German economic partnership,” Wintershall chairman of the board Mario Mehren told the newspaper.
Read the article in German here.
For background, see the News Digest entries Germany and Austria say US sanction plans against Russia threaten Europe’s energy security and Merkel calls US gas sanctions against Russia “irregular behaviour”.
Germany on average consumed 121 million litres of diesel fuel every day in 2016, resulting in a record share of diesel in total fuel consumption of 65 percent, reports Germany’s Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Diesel sales increased 30 percent from 1999 until 2016, while petrol sales fell 41 percent in the same period.
Read the article in German here.
Find background material on the carmakers fight for the top-spot in e-mobility in the dossier, and more on the diesel summit’s outcome in the CLEW article German carmakers pledge diesel software updates and buyer’s bonus.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
German sports car manufacturer Porsche is looking at the possibility to phase out the diesel version for its SUV Cayenne with the upcoming new model, writes Susanne Preuß for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. “In regards to diesel, we are examining different scenarios”, but a decision was not yet made, a Porsche spokesperson told the newspaper. One of the alternative scenarios would be that the September release is the last Cayenne available with a diesel engine, writes Preuß.
Read the article in German here.
Find background material on the carmakers fight for the top-spot in e-mobility in the dossier, and more on the diesel summit’s outcome in the CLEW article German carmakers pledge diesel software updates and buyer’s bonus.
Handelsblatt
The transport minister of Austria wants to see new registration of conventional cars phased-out by 2030, writes Handelsblatt. “It is my goal that in 2030, only emissions-free cars will be registered in Austria,” Austrian transport minister Jörg Leichtfried told Handelsblatt in an interview. Asked about decisions on diesel bans in England and France, Leichtfried said that he was “not a friend of bans” and wanted to develop the transport transition together with the industry and the population.
Read the interview (behind paywall) in German here.
For background, read the CLEW factsheet The debate over an end to combustion engines in Germany.
