Renewables overtake coal / Sino-German cooperation

The governments of China and Germany have vowed to intensify their joint efforts in global climate diplomacy and in upholding free trade, as well as in the development and rollout of energy transition technologies, the German government says in a press release. “We broke new ground,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after her meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Berlin, adding that deals like the construction of a new battery cell factory by Chinese company CATL in Germany demonstrate the maturing economic cooperation between the two countries in electric mobility and other fields. In a joint declaration, the two governments said they will back the focus of this year’s G20 host Argentina on climate action, and will work to make progress on the Paris Agreement at the COP24 in Poland. “We stress the importance of robust rules as a foundation for trust between the signatory states,” the joint declaration said. Sino-German cooperation, dubbed a “responsible partnership for a better world” in the declaration, will also be strengthened in climate and energy research, energy efficiency, renewable technologies, and the development of a Chinese emissions trading system.

Find the declaration and the press release in German here.

See the CLEW articles Chinese-German battery cell deal key step for mobility transition and Sino-German tandem: Export champions promote global energy transition

The “big four” utilities in Germany - RWE, E.ON, Vattenfall Germany, and EnBW - have all disappeared from a list of the country’s 100 largest companies compiled by the German Monopolies Commission, the competition watchdog says in its annual report. The list ranks companies according to their economic value added, the number of employees, and total sales volumes in 2016. While the big four utilities were still among the country’s top 50 companies in the 2014, they were all but gone from the top 100 two years later, the 2018 report says. “The Energiewende has caused major restructuring in these companies,” the monopolies commission writes. The split-off of subsidiaries at RWE, which used to be ranked 11th in 2014, and at E.ON, formerly 22nd, has significantly reduced both company’s individual economic weight and the “value correction” of their conventional energy generation capacities, the commission says.

Find the report in German here.

For background, read the dossiers Utilities and the energy transition, The energy transition's effects on the economy and the factsheet Germany’s largest utilities at a glance.

Once a leader on climate protection, Germany is now falling behind, former US Vice President Al Gore said in an interview with Politico Europe. Its continued reliance on coal to power its economy endangers not only its international reputation but also the jobs of the future, he added. “Germany was a model for the rest of the world, and a narrative took hold here in Germany that might be summarised as ‘Germany leads and everyone follows,” he told Politico. “But that narrative is now out of date.”

Read the article in English here.

For background, read the articles Gore says Germany faces historic step as coal commission starts work and Germany on track to widely miss 2020 climate target – government.