Climate protection: Germany wants to achieve emission targets faster

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Climate protection: Germany wants to achieve emission targets faster-wants

The Economic and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck has presented the opening balance of climate protection a few days ago. This is necessary to show where Germany is at the individual fields of action. This applies both to the climate targets in the various sectors and to the expansion of renewable energies and grid expansion. The opening balance shows how far the climate protection in Germany falls short of expectations.

“The opening balance for climate protection shows that we are starting with a drastic deficit. The previous climate protection measures are insufficient in all sectors. It is foreseeable that the climate targets for 2022 and 2023 will not be met. But we are making every effort to close the gap. To do this, we need to triple the speed of our emissions reductions and do a lot more in less time.“ – Robert Habeck, Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection

Habeck emphasized that Germany should become climate-neutral by 2045 and that the share of renewable energies should increase to 80 percent by 2030. “The work on this has begun,” the Economics and Climate Protection Minister continued: “We are now putting the priority laws, regulations and measures on track – a first climate protection package will come by the end of April, a second in the summer.”

The aim of the immediate climate protection program is to get all sectors on track and to initiate the necessary measures so that Germany can achieve its climate goals. All necessary laws, regulations and measures are to be completed by the end of 2022. In order for this to succeed, the federal government will consistently push ahead with the creation and implementation of the program.

“It will take a few years before we see the results”

Economics and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck made it clear: “All of this is a mammoth task. And it will be a few years before we see the results. But what we are doing now lays the foundation for bringing climate protection and prosperity together.”

The immediate measures that the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection will present in a timely manner include:

  • EEG amendment: In the EEG, the course is to be set for 80 percent renewable electricity generation by 2030. For this, the quantities of tender should be increased. The technology-specific amounts are enforced, from the beginning, from the beginning from a very ambitious level, according to the Ministry of a Current Communication. In this case, gross power consumption in the middle of the corridor from the coalition agreement (680 – 750 TWh) is assumed, so 715 TWh. The principle should be enshrined that the EE expansion is in the outstanding public interest and serves public security.
  • solar power: The solar energy should be unleashed with a solar acceleration package. The solar acceleration package includes a broad bundle of individual measures to significantly advance solar energy. These include, among other things, an improvement in tenant electricity, raising the tender thresholds and opening up the area for open space systems, taking nature conservation criteria into account. In addition, the new goal is to be implemented by law that all suitable roof surfaces should be used for solar energy in the future. Solar energy should become mandatory for new commercial buildings and the norm for new private buildings.
  • wind energy: Short-term area potential for onshore wind is to be developed and the expansion process is to be accelerated with an onshore wind law. The distances to rotary radio beacons and weather radars are to be reduced and measures are to be implemented to make wind expansion more compatible with military interests. According to the press release, there is a lot of untapped potential here. In the area of radio navigation and rotary beacons alone, 4 to 5 GW of power is possible. In addition, there is a potential of 3 to 4 GW of capacity in the area of military matters. With the Wind-on-Land Act, two percent of the state’s area is to be reserved for wind energy, the expansion of wind energy is to be reconciled with species protection, and the prerequisites for more rapid planning and approval procedures are to be created.
  • Reduction of the electricity price: The federal government wants to create a basis for more renewable electricity at competitive prices. Electricity should become cheaper, especially in comparison to fossil fuels. So should
    Heat pumps and e-mobility more attractive and sector coupling advanced. For this reason, the EEG surcharge will be financed via the federal budget from 2023, which should relieve consumers of electricity costs. With the abolition of the EEG surcharge, the federal government is converting the surcharges linked to the special equalization regulation (KWKG, offshore grid surcharge) into a separate law in order to create a reliable and plannable legal basis for the industry for the other surcharges.
  • Climate protection agreements with industry: The federal government will create the legal and financial conditions for the provision of climate protection contracts (Carbon Contracts for Difference) as a central instrument to support the transformation in the industry. In order to get started with climate-neutral production processes, the industry needs a reliable funding and investment framework. This instrument is intended to make climate-neutral production processes more cost-effective earlier, and companies should be able to plan the costs more easily.
  • heat strategy: The new government is also aiming for a very high proportion of renewable energies in heating: by 2030, 50 percent of the heating is to be generated in a climate-neutral manner. The federal government sees energy efficiency as the second pillar, which is why a new building strategy for climate neutrality is being developed for the optimal interaction of both instruments. The federal government wants to decisively advance climate protection in buildings and advocate comprehensive municipal heating planning as well as decarbonization and the expansion of heating networks. For this purpose, the federal funding for efficient heating networks (BEW) will come into force immediately after the approval under state aid law and its funding will be increased.
  • Building standards and promotion: Together with the Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building, the Economics and Climate Ministry wants to create a reliable planning basis for investments with a speedy revision of the Building Energy Act. In this way, new buildings and building renovations are to be geared towards the goal of climate neutrality by 2045 and a significantly reduced energy requirement. The agreement in the coalition agreement is to be implemented that from 2025 every newly installed heating system will be operated on the basis of at least 65 percent renewable energies. In this way, the federal government wants to prevent bad investments that are not compatible with the climate goals. The federal funding for efficient buildings will be adjusted quickly at the same time; it is intended to flank the new requirements of the Building Energy Act and, by 2025, introduce the market to these steps through efficient incentives.
  • hydrogen strategy: The new government wants to adjust the measures to ramp up the hydrogen technology market in order to double the production of green hydrogen compared to previous plans. To this end, the national hydrogen strategy will be revised this year, and additional funding programs are to be launched.

According to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, this is only a first selection of the planned projects. It is currently being examined which further measures can be initiated quickly. In addition, further measures from other departments and sectors are to be included in the emergency program, which will be developed in close cooperation within the federal government in the coming months.

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2 thoughts on “Climate protection: Germany wants to achieve emission targets faster”

  1. The topic of tenant electricity would be interesting for me. I imagine it in such a way that the previous counters remain, and there is also a bidirectional mains consumption counter. I then offer the tenants electricity that is cheaper than mains electricity, and nobody will say no to that. In addition, my self-generated electricity must of course not be charged with the EEG surcharge, etc. be charged. Furthermore, as a small business owner, I should be able to do this with as little bureaucracy as possible.

    Under the CDSU, only fossil-fuel power plants were allowed to use their own electricity free of charge..

    Reply

  2. Habeck and GRuNE alone in the open in achieving the emission targets?

    CDU/CSU, SPD and FDP have been in government in various coalitions in recent years and have put the brakes on the expansion of PV and wind power plants and now two of them – SPD and FDP – are in the traffic light government and form the majority.

    It strains my imagination, if I have to imagine that the GRuNE against the FDP and SPD will achieve a lot in just under 4 years. And even worse, if there are no more GREENs in the next government – will everything that has been achieved up until then not go down the drain??

    The nuclear lobby has rammed pegs into the EU ground with “green nuclear power”, which are difficult to remove again and will probably cost the opponents of nuclear power many years of fighting again.

    Even if I don’t wish it, but a nuclear power plant in France will probably have to blow up to put an end to “green nuclear power” in the EU so that renewable energies in Europe have a chance at all. The majority of politicians probably only learn from disasters.

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