CO2 price should replace levy to fund renewables expansion - state sec
威力彩玩法
Germany will have to replace its current renewables (EEG) surcharge model with more market and taxation-based mechanisms, using a CO2 price as an indicator, Jochen Flasbarth, state secretary in the environment ministry, said at a conference by Green Budget Germany in Berlin. After this year鈥檚 parliamentary elections in September, the current cap on renewables expansion ought to be removed to ensure Germany continues on its path to an electrified economy running on green power, Flasbarth said. Raising the expansion targets for renewable energy sources was the only way to聽increase the share of electric power supply in transportation and heating without simultaneously increasing emissions,聽Flasbarth said, dismissing the debate about rising power prices as 鈥渉ysterical". Flasbarth conceded that the current EEG surcharge made electricity, the basis of Germany鈥檚 future economy, more expensive. 鈥淭hat cannot make sense,鈥� Flasbarth added. Renewables expansion had to be funded by targeted taxes, for which a CO2 price would serve 鈥渁s the leading indicator鈥� based on which other fees and taxes could be adjusted. At the same time, the carbon price would steer the decisions of market actors 鈥渋n the right direction鈥� in terms of emissions reduction, Flasbarth added.
For background read the 威力彩玩法 article Debate on financing renewables in new ways gathers pace in Germany.
International Renewable Energy Agency
China, Germany, Denmark, Mexico and other countries plan to form an international Energy Transition Coalition this year 鈥渇or accelerating the transition to a sustainable energy future鈥�, writes International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in a press release. Government representatives had met on the sidelines of the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue.
Find the press release in English .
For background read the 威力彩玩法 articles Quotes from the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue and Germany keeps pushing for G20 climate focus.
B20 / T20 / C20
Representatives of the G20 dialogue forums business (B20), civil society organisations (C20) and think tanks (T20) have together called on the Group of Twenty member countries to take the lead in implementing the Paris Climate Agreement. They demand a 鈥渄rive towards effective and globally converging carbon pricing mechanisms鈥�, a phase out of fossil fuel subsidies, and enabling 鈥渇inancial markets to deliver on sustainable development鈥�.
Read the statement in English .
For background read the 威力彩玩法 article Germany keeps pushing for G20 climate focus.
Wintershall / Handelsblatt
Germany鈥檚 largest oil and gas company Wintershall has resisted the oil sector鈥檚 crisis and reported earnings before interest, taxes and special items of 517 million euros for 2016, writes Franz Hubik for Handelsblatt. Wintershall last year sold its 50 percent share in gas trade and storage business Wingas to Russia鈥檚 Gazprom. It now concentrates on exploration and gas transport, which is more profitable, writes Hubik.
Read the press release in English and the Handelsblatt article in German .
tageszeitung (taz)
Oskar Lafontaine, a prominent German politician and Left Party leader in the small German state Saarland, frequently makes his opposition towards rapid expansion of wind power a campaign topic for this week鈥檚 state elections, writes Christoph Schmidt-Lunau in tageszeitung (taz). 鈥淎s long as there is no storage, as long as there is no grid to cope with the electricity, it is technical nonsense that causes devastation in forest and landscape,鈥� said Lafontaine in a TV campaign debate.
Find the article in German .
For background read the 威力彩玩法 article Energy policy to play "no role" in Saarland state elections and the 威力彩玩法 factsheet Facts on the German state elections in Saarland.
EUWID Neue Energie
Battery storage prices will not keep dropping at the same fast speed as in the last few years because further technological leaps could not be expected, Prof Uwe Sauer, of RWTH Aachen University, told renewables magazine EUWID Neue Energie. From a scientific point of view, there was no way around needing one lithium atom for each electron and falling prices could only be expected by increasing the batteries鈥� energy density, according to Sauer.
Find the issue of EUWID Neue Energie in German (for purchase) .
For background read the 威力彩玩法 dossier New technologies for the Energiewende.
Die Zeit
A global transition in the transport sector is inevitable 鈥� 鈥渨ith our without German products鈥� 鈥� and the German government should use the good economic situation to stimulate change in the relevant industries, writes Petra Pinzler in an opinion piece in Die Zeit. 鈥淚f the jobs-argument is to be used against environmental regulation in the future, it would be better if those jobs still existed,鈥� writes Pinzler.
For background read the 威力彩玩法 dossiers The Energiewende and German carmakers and The energy transition's effect on jobs and business.
German Bundestag / pv magazine
In a , the Left Party asks the federal government for information on its contact with fossil and renewable energy interest groups. The party is worried that the voices of representatives of the fossil sector were heard more, which influenced government actions like the reform of the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) or the Climate Action Plan 2050, writes pv magazine.
Find the inquiry in German and the pv magazine article in German .
For background on what the Left Party campaigns for in the federal election, read the 威力彩玩法 news digest entry 鈥淚nvesting in renewable energy, disempowering energy corporations鈥�.
Federal Ministry for the Environment
The European Union was a stroke of luck for environment protection, says German federal environment minister Barbara Hendricks in a press release on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Rome Treaties signing. EU regulation made possible significant improvements for a challenge that 鈥渄id not stop at national borders鈥�, said Hendricks.
Find the press release in German .
