Green state premier: diesel summits unsuitable / BMW e-car offensive
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The “ill-prepared” ‘diesel summits’ organised by the federal government are not the right platform for dealing with the “dynamic” developments of the car emissions fraud scandal, Baden-Wuerttemberg’s Green state premier Winfried Kretschmann told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview. In his home state, there existed an institutionalised seven-year “strategy dialogue” between government, industry, science, civil society and municipalities, he said. Kretschmann opposes proposals such as e-car quotas and setting an end date for combustion engines now. “In our emotional exuberance, we shouldn’t take the third step before the first.” Instead, he says he favours emissions limits. A so-called “blue badge”, which would give cities a legal basis for banning older diesel cars, “would be a technology driver and an announcement that industry and consumers could plan with,” said Kretschmann.
Read an article on the interview in German here.
Find more information on the past diesel summits in CLEW’s articles Merkel at second diesel summit: must avoid driving bans "by all means" and German carmakers pledge diesel software updates and buyer’s bonus.
BMW / electrek
In the run-up to the Frankfurt car show (IAA), premium carmaker BMW has updated its electric car plans with more all-electric models. “Let me make one thing very clear: in e-mobility, the BMW Group will also be the leading provider in the premium segment,” CEO Harald Krüger said in a press release. “By 2025, we will offer 25 electrified vehicles – 12 will be fully electric.” BMW previously said that electric models, which include all-electric cars and plug-in hybrids, are expected to account for “around 15 to 25 per cent” of their sales by that date.
In a report for electrek, Fred Lambert calls the announcement a “serious update” after the long gap since launching the i3 “raised doubts about BMW’s commitment to all-electric cars.” The IAA will officially open next week.
Read the BMW press release here.
Read the electrek report here.
Find background in the updated Factsheet Early e-car starter BMW plans new mobility sprint.
FOCUS Magazin
Free Democratic Party (FDP) head Christian Lindner sees “high hurdles in energy policy” for a possible government coalition of conservatives (CDU/CSU), Free Democrats and the Green Party after the German general elections, he told FOCUS Magazin in an interview. “Until now, I’ve had trouble imagining a Jamaica alliance [a colloquial term comparing the traditional colours of the CDU/CSU, FDP and Greens to those of Jamaica's black, yellow and green flag],” said Lindner. He criticised some Green Party policy proposals: “Regarding the diesel crisis, they don’t understand that subsidies, quotas and bans make no sense - not only economically, but also ecologically. We need technology neutrality to reach climate targets,” Lindner told FOCUS.
Read an article on the interview in German here.
For background, check out CLEW’s factsheet Colour codes: How energy & climate policy differs in German coalitions.
Commerzbank
Global competition pressure in the renewables sector will increase over the coming years, as costs and overall investments continue to drop, while renewables growth will be less than in previous years, writes Germany’s second-largest bank Commerzbank in a new market analysis. In Germany, the shift to auctions for renewables support have led to a drop in support payments per kilowatt hour, but also to lower expansion potential, writes the bank in a press release. Growth in the wind power sector is seen continuing to shift to offshore business in the future. Commerzbank has financed about 15 percent of Germany’s wind power capacity, writes the company.
Find the press release in German here.
Tagesspiegel
The federal environment ministry does not share the “extremely negative” assessment by think tank Agora Energiewende* that Germany is heading for a “spectacular” miss of the 2020 climate targets, writes Susanne Ehlerding in the Tagesspiegel. “We continue to assume that there will be additional progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, as many of the measures decided with the Climate Action Programme 2020 are beginning to have an effect,” said a ministry spokesperson. However, one would have to “again strongly re-adjust” measures after the general elections.
Read the article in German here.
For background, read the CLEW article Germany heads for "spectacular" 2020 climate target miss - study.
*Like the Clean Energy Wire, Agora Energiewende is a project funded by Stiftung Mercator and the European Climate Foundation.
Hurricanes such as Irma and Harvey are a “wake-up call for resolute climate policy” and it is alarming that climate is playing no role in the current German federal election campaign, writes environmental and development NGO Germanwatch in a press release. It is “high time” that other parties besides the Greens clearly committed to reaching climate targets, phasing out coal and implementing a transport transition, said policy director Christoph Bals. Only if the “former energy transition pioneer Germany” acts domestically, can it credibly promote international progress at the UN climate conference in Bonn in November.
Find the press release in German here.
For background, read the CLEW article Isolating Trump, 19 G20-members say Paris climate deal "irreversible".
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
With 144 charging points to supply more than 4,000 cars per day, the medium-sized Swabian van interior racking systems manufacturer Sortimo plans to build the world’s largest e-vehicle charging station in 2018, writes Bernd Freytag in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The company plans to build the station next to its production site on the Autobahn that connects Munich and Stuttgart. The power would come exclusively from local renewable sources and the site will include 24 fast-charging points (350 kilowatt).
Read the article in German here.
For background, read the CLEW dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers.
German Atomic Forum (DAtF)
Only 12 percent of Germans say they believe that the country will find a location for a final nuclear repository by 2031, as projected by a new law, according to a survey by German Atomic Forum (DAtF), an organisation lobbying for the non-military use of nuclear energy. 29 percent of respondents said that the search will not be successful at all.
Find the results of the survey in English here.
For background, read the CLEW factsheet What to do with the nuclear waste – the storage question.
