NGO outrage over Climate Plan / G20 fossil subsidies deadline wanted
Clean Energy Wire
Environmental organisations have responded to a government proposal to decarbonise the economy with outrage. They say the Climate Action Plan 2050 will fall well short of meeting climate targets, and accuse the environment ministry of caving in to pressure from the economics ministry and Angela Merkel’s Chancellery to water down ambitious plans and drop important details, like a deadline for the coal exit.
Read the CLEW article in English here.
Thomson Reuters Foundation
Experts and green groups are urging Germany to set a target year for the G20 nations to phase out hundreds of billions of dollars in state subsidies to polluting fossil fuels, writes Megan Rowling for the Thomson Reuters Foundation. As host of next year’s summit, there is pressure on Germany to produce an agreement, after the recent summit in China failed to do so. "Time is running out," Alex Doukas of Oil Change International told Reuters. “Every dollar wasted on fossil fuel subsidies pushes us closer to climate disaster and makes the transition to clean energy more difficult.”
Find the article on the Reuters website.
Read more on the German government’s G20 priorities in a CLEW article.
ZDF frontal21
The governments of the federal states of Saxony and Brandenburg do not require insolvency-proof guarantees for the recultivation of pits from the new owners of Vattenfall’s lignite operations, the TV channel ZDF’s magazine frontal21 reports. Czech investor EPH will be obliged to set aside provisions on its balance sheet to pay for the renaturation of pits. But unlike guarantees, which both states have asked for from smaller mining operations, such provisions would be lost should the company go bankrupt, potentially leaving tax payers to foot the bill, the report says.
Find a brief article on the report and a video link here.
CLEW provides background on Vattenfall’s sale of its lignite operation in east Germany in a factsheet.
Dow Jones Newswire
Stefan Kapferer, head of utilities lobby BDEW, told an audience at the German Energy Conference that Germany’s energy sector should put an end to political wrangling and fully focus on the business challenges of the Energiewende, Dow Jones Newswire reports. With a virtual consensus that the trend of decarbonisation is unstoppable, Kapferer said the Energiewende should change from a bureaucratic project into an entrepreneurial one.
Bloomberg
Siemens AG is preparing for a surge in German demand for utility-scale storage, as rapid development of renewables forces utilities to invest in batteries to help manage to new patterns of power generation and consumption, writes Brian Parkin for Bloomberg.
Read the article here.
A CLEW dossier on the technologies for the Energiewende provides some more background.
Süddeutsche Zeitung
German automotive supplier Bosch has been accused of involvement in the VW emissions scandal, write Thomas Fromm, Max Hägler and Klaus Ott for Süddeutsche Zeitung. Several application documents in a U.S. court case show that “without the consent of the supplier, the car manufacturer [VW] apparently could not make changes to the software that was used for the diesel manipulations.” The plaintiffs conclude that the decision to manipulate the emissions tests was an “open secret” in both companies, writes Süddeutsche.
Read the article in German here.
Centre for European Policy
The number of free emissions allowances allocated to industrial companies competing at a global level under the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) should not be rigidly restricted, because too few allocations may result in carbon leakage, according to a study by neoliberal think tank Centre for European Policy (cep). “Carbon leakage gives rise to economic costs in the EU in the form of lower industrial output and the loss of jobs,” says the study.
Find the report in English here.
Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH)
33 of 36 passenger cars tested on the road under real-life conditions exceeded the limits for nitrogen oxide emissions by up to nine times, according to German non-profit environmental and consumer protection association Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), which carried out the tests. However, “the fact that three vehicles were below the limits shows that effective emissions control is possible,” DUH says in a press release.
Find the press release and the report in German here.
For background read the CLEW dossier: The energy transition and Germany’s transport sector.
Handelsblatt Global Edition
Major German share placements this week include Uniper, E.ON’s conventional power spin-off, and Innogy, RWE’s green subsidiary. Each is worth billions, the report says.
Analysts estimate Uniper's market value at 5 billion euros, Handelsblatt Global reports, significantly lower than its book value of 12 billion euros.
Read the article (behind paywall) in English here.
idw scientific information service
Has launched a tool to help municipalities rate the benefits of developing renewable energy infrastructure under different investor and operator models. An online tutorial for the too is now available.
See the press release in German here.
