"Extremely broad" range of positions offers German voters choices on energy transition – analysis

The upcoming snap election in Germany will bring a “choice of direction” for the country’s energy transition, as energy and climate policy positions vary among the different parties, found an analysis of party manifestos conducted by the Reiner Lemoine Kolleg (RLK). Proposed plans range from a continuation of the current trajectory, through to a radical turnaround.

“Our research found that the variety of proposals is extremely broad,” said Martha Hoffmann, acting head of the RLK. Depending on which party prevails in coalition talks, “the energy system’s transformation could be upended, throttled or continued constructively,” Hoffmann argued. 

The RLK looked at eleven different criteria relevant for the transition and compared these with the official positions stated in the election programmes of the seven parties that have the best chances of entering parliament after the election on 23 February. Alongside the direct transformation of energy infrastructure, industry decarbonisation and the expansion of renewable energy sources, it also considered incentives for shifting modes of transport, the relevance of participation and sharing models, as well as the socially-just implementation of energy transition policies. While all parties discussed different aspects of the energy transition in their manifestos, the topic was not given equal weight by each of them, the RLK found.

“The Green Party’s manifesto offers the best approaches with respect to the energy transition and it is the only one receiving the mark very good,” the RLK said. The group added that the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Left Party also presented solid plans in their programmes. “These are the only three manifestos that comprehensively address the energy transition and continue or even accelerate it,” the researchers concluded.

The manifesto presented by the conservative alliance of the Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU) only received a satisfactory mark as it omitted relevant policy areas. “Good approaches are found in the areas of industry transformation and power market design. Weaknesses are found in the areas of a just energy transition and heating sector transformation,” the researchers said.

The programmes of the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the nationalist-left Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) were found to offer weak energy policy approaches that would cause the energy transition to stagnate. By contrast, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) presented a manifesto based on an “anti-energy transition polemic” that failed to deliver constructive policy ideas and instead would advocate for a complete dismantling of the process, the researchers said.