France & Germany aim for ETS reform / Diesel figures further down
Reuters / Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy / Federal Environment Ministry
The governments of France and Germany intend to reinforce European carbon trading in the electricity sector and aim to initiate a reform of the EU鈥檚 emissions trading system (ETS) before the UN鈥檚 COP 23 in November, news agency Reuters reports. Brune Poirson, French Minister of State in the ecology ministry, met with German counterparts Rainer Baake from the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) and Jochen Flasbarth from the Federal Environment Ministry (BMUB).
In press releases by the ministries, Poirson and her German counterparts said they would jointly work towards a quick implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement and advance legal groundwork on a European energy union. The state ministers also confirmed the continued implementation of a cross-border smart grid project as well as cross-border auctions of renewable energy projects.
Read the Reuters article in English聽, the press release by the BMWi and the BMUB in German聽听补苍诲听,聽and a release by the French ecology ministry in French聽.
See the 威力彩玩法 factsheet Understading the EU's ETS for background.
Federal Motor Transport Authority
Diesel car registrations in Germany are in decline: year-on-year registration figures in August fell by 13.8 percent, bringing the share of vehicles with diesel engines on German roads to 37.7 percent, the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) has said in a press release. Total car registrations grew by 3.5 percent compared to 2016, with electric vehicles growing by 143.2 percent and hybrid cars by 76.4 percent. Registrations of cars with gasoline engines grew by 15 percent, cementing the technology鈥檚 dominant position with a share of 58.4 percent of all vehicles. Average CO2聽emissions of newly registered cars in Germany remained at 128.2 grams per kilometre, the press release says. A KBA spokesman told 威力彩玩法 the average value was based on manufacturers鈥� measurement results achieved on the test block.
Read the press release in German聽.
See the 威力彩玩法 dieselgate timeline for background.
Tageszeitung
The German government praises diesel technology as an important component of climate protection in the transport sector - but this claim is more and more contested by transport and climate researchers, Bernhard P枚tter writes in Tageszeitung (taz). Claiming that diesel engines were necessary to achieve Germany鈥檚 climate protection targets due to the technology鈥檚 lower consumption was 鈥渘onsense鈥�, says Peter Mock, of the environmental research association ICCT. Cheap diesel fuel had fostered the increase in registrations of bigger and more fuel-intense vehicles, which outweighs the lower consumption level of diesel engines lying about 15 percent below that of gasoline engines, P枚tter writes. According to the ICCT, a quick transition to hybrid and e-cars was far more conducive to climate protection than a continued use of diesel cars.
Read the article in German聽.
See the 威力彩玩法 article Merkel at second diesel summit: must avoid driving bans "by all means" and the 威力彩玩法 factsheet The debate over an end to combustion egnines in Germany for more information.
manager-magazin.de
Tesla has doubled its sales in Germany in the first half of 2017,聽manager-magazin.de聽reports. The US electric car manufacturer has sold 2,075 of its electric cars in Germany since January. However, while Tesla鈥檚 sales figures were clearly surging, German carmaker BMW鈥檚 electric model i3 alone sold 2,385 times during the same period, the article says.
Read the article in German聽.
See the 威力彩玩法 factsheet Early e-car starter BMW plans new mobility sprint for background.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in the TV debate with her challenger Martin Schulz, scolded Germany鈥檚 carmakers for putting the country鈥檚 key industry in jeopardy with their manipulation of exhaust emission values, Carsten Knop writes in a commentary for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. But at Germany鈥檚 second diesel summit, just one day after the debate, 鈥渟he just pays 500 million euros more to the already projected 250 million euros鈥� reserved for a sustainable mobility fund, Knop says. The car industry, on the other hand, seems to have no intention to ramp up its contributions to the fund that is aimed at facilitating clean mobility concepts for German cities 鈥渁nd instead hopes that the entire outrage over the companies and their diesel engines will blow over soon,鈥� Knop argues. 鈥淎 pillar of the world鈥檚 export champion will keep crumbling if things continue that way,鈥� Knop suggests.
Read the commentary in German聽.
See the 威力彩玩法 article Merkel at second diesel summit: must avoid driving bans "by all means" and the 威力彩玩法 factsheet The debate over an end to combustion egnines in Germany for more information.
DVZ - Deutsche Logistik-Zeitung
German port industries and state politicians call for removing the cap on offshore wind power expansion, Jan Peter Naumann writes in DVZ 鈥� Deutsche Logistik-Zeitung. The current expansion corridor of 15 gigawatt (GW) by 2030 had to be expanded to 30GW by 2035, Olaf Lies, economy minister in the state of Niedersachsen said. Several maritime service providers also say expansion caps had to be removed to meet Germany鈥檚 rising electricity demand, for which offshore wind power was an indispensable component, Naumann says.
Read the article in German聽聽(behind paywall).
See the 威力彩玩法 factsheet German onshore wind power - business, output and perspectives for background on the country's wind industry.
Energie & Management
The election battle in Germany leaves little room for hoping that the country鈥檚 climate protection record will improve soon, Ralf K枚pke writes in Energie & Management. While the wind power industry currently approaches a new expansion record and struggles to find sufficient equipment for turbine construction, 鈥渟uch worries probably will be gone鈥� by 2019, K枚pke says. Hermann Albers, president of the German Wind Power Association (BWE), says expansion volumes in that year might drop by 60 percent compared to 2017, leading to layoffs in the industry. Energy economist Claudia Kemfert, of research institute DIW, says Germany currently was 鈥渉arvesting fruits of the past鈥� in terms of its renewables expansion record, leading to 鈥渁 rise in carbon emissions instead of a drop鈥�.
Read the article in German聽.
See the 威力彩玩法 dossiers The energy transition and climate change and Onshore wind power in Germany for more information.
Tagesspiegel
Germany鈥檚 right-wing national conservative party Alternative for Germany (AfD) calls the human effect on global warming into question and wants to scrap efforts to cut carbon emissions, Maria Fiedler writes in Tagesspiegel. 鈥淭here have been cold and warm periods also before industrialisation started,鈥� AfD top candidate Alexander Gauland said at a presentation of the party鈥檚 energy policy concepts in Berlin. The concept paper says human influence on climate change was 鈥渁n invention鈥�, while leading party figures call for leaving the Paris Climate Agreement, ending all climate protection efforts of public services and stopping the Energiewende, and consequently the funding of renewable energy sources, Fiedler says. The AfD鈥檚 other top candidate, Alice Weidel, also called for a guarantee for owners of diesel cars to be allowed to use their vehicles until at least 2050, and said the debate over high NOx聽pollution in German cities was 鈥渁 campaign issue inflated by the Greens鈥�. Weidel also accused Chancellor Angela Merkel of 鈥渄e-industrialising Germany鈥� by considering a possible end to combustion engine technology.
Read the article in German聽.
For an overview of German party positions on energy and climate, see this 威力彩玩法 factsheet. Also, see this 威力彩玩法 dossier for background on German parliamentary elections 2017.
