German Postal Service sells e-vans / CO2 reduction below EU average
Deutsche Post / Handelsblatt
Deutsche Post DHL will double production capacity for its self-developed electric van, and start Streetscooter sales to third parties due to strong demand. The logistics company said in a press release it will commission another production location to ramp up annual capacity from 10,000 to 20,000 by the end of the year.
In an article in business daily Handelsblatt on the project, Christoph Schlautmann and Lukas Bay write that the Streetscooter is likely to top this year’s list of new e-car registrations in Germany. “With its push into the market for e-cars, [Deutsche Post] dupes the car industry.” Deutsche Post launched its own electric van because established carmakers did not want to produce a purpose-built model. That turned the logistics group “from client to competitor”, the authors write.
Find the Deutsche Post press release here.
For background, read the CLEW dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers.
Federal Environment Agency (UBA)
Industry and energy production emissions reduction in Germany has been below the EU-average for the tenth year in a row, according to figures released by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA). With 453 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, combined emissions reduction in both sectors stood at 0.6 percent, whereas reduction across the EU ranged between 2.4 and 2.8 percent, the UBA said in press release. Industry emissions were nearly constant in 2016 compared to the previous year, while reduction in energy generation fell by 0.9 percent. Besides Germany’s solid economic growth, leaps of emissions reduction progress in other countries were responsible for the below-average German performance, the UBA explains.
For background, see the CLEW factsheet Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions and climate targets.
Find the press release in German here.
Frankfurter Rundschau
Carbon emissions in Germany will only be reduced if the country commits itself in earnest to “a turnaround in transport policy”, education minister Johanna Wanka told Frankfurter Rundschau in an interview. Wanka said she had made research on e-mobility and fuel cell technology a focus of her policy and was confident that progress in digitalisation could be a big help in making the country’s transport sector more efficient. German citizens should not be given “the illusion that the energy transition is going to be uncomplicated, and can be done without changing one’s way of live”, Wanka argued. Another focus of the education ministry, therefore, was to improve public understanding and acceptance of the energy transition by greater transparency and involvement of citizens.
Read the interview in German here.
For more information, see the CLEW dossier The energy transition and Germany’s transport sector.
Shell / Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy
Fuel cell electric vehicles could make a significant contribution to reducing CO2 emissions in the transport sector, according to a study by oil company Shell and the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy. “In 2050, 113 million fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) could save up to 68 million tonnes of fuel and almost 200 million tonnes of carbon emissions,” according to a press release.
Shell is one of 13 companies that pledged in January to invest more than 10 billion dollars in the next five years to push hydrogen fuel.
Find the press release in English and the full study in German here.
Find background in the CLEW factsheet The role of biofuel and hydrogen in Germany's transport Energiewende.
German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE)
Only a small part of Germany’s inflexible conventional power generation is required to guarantee grid stability, according to the German Renewable Energy Federation BEE. The lobby group said the Federal Grid Agency’s (BNetzA) finding that many plants do not throttle generation at times of negative power prices showed inflexible conventional plants blocked the integration of renewable power. “It is no longer acceptable that conventional plants clog up the grid, while renewable power is capped,” said the association’s acting director Harald Uphoff in a press release.
Find the press release in German here.
Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMUB)
Germany will assist Fiji in preparing the 23rd UN climate conference, the Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMUB) has said in a press release. Jochen Flasbarth, state secretary in the environment ministry, met Fiji’s Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama to discuss details of the COP23, which will focus on defining the Paris Agreement’s rules and standards, as well as on accommodating the interests of island nations that are especially vulnerable to climate change, the BMUB said. COP23 is going to be held in Bonn but will be presided over by the Pacific island country.
Find the press release in German here.
Die Zeit
Germany’s efforts to protect the climate by reducing its CO2 emissions have largely been in vain because the country falls short of implementing a much needed coal phase-out, Petra Pinzler writes in weekly newspaper Die Zeit. “The country of the Energiewende fails at climate protection,” Pinzler writes, explaining that Germany’s dual challenge of decarbonising energy generation and exiting nuclear power can only succeed if the country increases its use of gas-fired power production. Instead of curbing emissions from some of Europe’s dirtiest coal plants resting on German soil, the government advocates for laxer emissions limits in Brussels, Pinzler writes. The decision by lignite mine operator LEAG to stop expanding its mines in eastern Germany gives reason for confidence that tides are turning for German coal. But most importantly German citizens had to change their daily routines and standards for travelling, living and consuming in order to effectively curb climate change, she argues.
See the CLEW dossier The energy transition and climate change for background.
