Germany spent only ten percent of funds earmarked for electric mobility charging in 2023

Germany has only spent about ten percent of the 1.8 billion euros earmarked for the expansion of electric mobility charging infrastructure in its Climate and Transformation Fund (CTF) in 2023, industry magazine Deutsche Verkehrszeitung reported. The latest report by Germany’s finance ministry (BMF) cited supply chain difficulties for technical components and raw materials, a lack of skilled labour and long licensing periods for grid connections as reasons for the low expenses. With 153 million euros, the country spent 37 percent of the planned sum on climate-friendly utility vehicles, which the ministry also attributed to supply chain challenges, said Deutsche Verkehrszeitung.

The BMF report had shown that about half of what was earmarked in the climate fund for 2023 were actually spent, media reports said last week. The Federal Court of Auditors (Bundesrechnungshof) has in the past criticised the German government for not using funds designated for climate action to their full extent, and called for better planning and more targeted spending.

A seminal court ruling in November last year on the CTF led to severe difficulties for the government to ensure funding for many climate and energy transition projects. The ruling had also impacted spending in 2023 by preventing projects that had not obtained funding by December from going through before the end of the year, the BMF report said. The decisison by Germany's constitutional court made in November last year heavily shook the government’s climate policy funding plans: The court ruled that the use of 60 billion euros as part of the CTF was unconstitutional, as the money had been set aside to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. The government subsequently had to reshuffle its plans for financing various policies through the CTF and draw up a new budget, a step that caused planning insecurity for decarbonisation and other transformation projects in many different areas.