Daimler labour rep: e-cars threaten jobs / Germans want renewables
Reuters
The head of carmaker Daimler AG's works council, Michael Brecht, says the move from conventional cars to e-cars could threaten jobs in the coming years, Reuters reports. "The number of staff you need to build a combustion engine is roughly tenfold compared to the number of staff for an electric engine," said the Chairman of Daimler's General Works Council. To counter the reduction in labour, Brecht says Daimler should produce more EV parts itself, noting that at the moment, the carmaker Daimler hardly manufactures any e-mobility components itself. Most manufacturing is done by subsidiaries and partners, writes Reuters.
Read the article in English here and a more detailed article in German here.
Renewable Energies Agency
93 percent of Germans say further expansion of renewables is important or very important, according to a study by TNS Emnid, commissioned by the Renewable Energies Agency (AEE). The approval rate for renewables facilities in their own neighbourhood fell by six percentage points to 62 percent, compared to last year. Participants that already have similar facilities in their neighbourhood more easily accept new ones. 73 percent of citizens rather support the idea of local solar PV panels for power generation. This figure rises to 90 percent for those who already have experience with solar panels in their neighbourhood. TNS Emnid asked 1000 participants in September 2016.
Find the press release in German here.
A majority of Germans (53 percent) think their country should do more to remain a pioneer in climate protection, according to a YouGov survey commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The representative survey with 2105 participants was carried out after the Paris agreement ratification by the USA and China and the publication of the German environment ministry’s trimmed down climate plan draft. 34 percent of participants said that Germany would stay a pioneer even without increased efforts and the remaining 13 percent was unsure. The assessment of the current government’s commitment showed a mixed picture: 27 percent rate it as good or very good, a majority of 44 percent sees it as mediocre and a fifth of participants as weak or very weak.
Find a press release in German here and a presentation of results in German here.
Der Spiegel
Environment minister Barbara Hendricks criticised her federal coalition partners for obstructing her ministry’s Climate Action Plan 2050 in an interview with German weekly Der Spiegel. “The objections of the ministries of agriculture and transport show that not everyone within the [Christian Democratic and Christian Social] Union have understood which commitments we have entered into in Paris,” Hendricks told Der Spiegel. “Now it becomes specific, and that means that we have to talk about numbers and set interim targets.”
Read parts of the interview in German here.
Read the CLEW factsheet Germany's trimmed-down Climate Action Plan and the CLEW article Ministry avoids concrete targets in weakened Climate Action Plan for background.
Several large business associations criticised Barbara Hendricks’ climate plan draft and that its coordination lies primarily with the environment ministry. “Because of its scope in many policy areas, the Climate Protection Plan 2050 must not be coordinated solely by one ministry, but should be steered in a process spanning many departments,” the Federation of German Industries, German Farmers’ Association and others said in a press release. Among other things, the associations want a cost-benefit analysis and a “price tag” for all proposed climate protection measures to make clear the costs for the “population, municipalities and the economy”.
Find the press release for download here.
Handelsblatt
There is a “creeping revolution” causing financial market actors to re-think their approaches, incorporating climate protection and sustainability as profitable investment strategies, write Green politicians Reinhard Bütikofer and Anton Hofreiter in a guest article in the Handelsblatt. “Ever since the Paris Agreement […] we have reached a political tipping point. […] Sustainability becomes a central category for strategic decisions on questions of competitiveness.” Bütikofer and Hofreiter demand that Germany make more effort in this area and “play in the premier league”.
