Robert Habeck’s climate ministry is now producing packages of measures and bills non-stop. Because Germany continues to sag when it comes to climate protection in the EU. Between the Easter and summer packages there is another immediate climate protection program that has it all.
Robert Habeck’s Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection is now firing one bill after another into Berlin’s political establishment. Recently the Easter package, the summer package is already in the works. And now the 99-page climate protection emergency program is being negotiated and sharpened with the other ministries.
At the latest, Russia’s attack on Ukraine made it clear how vital independence from fossil raw materials such as coal, natural gas, oil or uranium is for an industrial nation like Germany, because:
Time is running out. But Berlin’s political mills grind slowly. Because several houses are involved in the energy transition project: in addition to the Habeck Ministry, the environment (Steffi Lemke, Greens), transport (Volker Wissing, FDP), agriculture (Cem Özdemir, Greens) and construction (Klara Geywitz, SPD) departments. Coordination between the ministries takes weeks, and there are public hearings by experts and associations, to whom the draft of the immediate program has been available for weeks.
The green electricity target of the previous government under Merkel and Altmaier for 2030 raises the traffic light from 65 to 85 percent: “As early as 2035, the power supply should be almost completely covered by renewable energies.”
Green electricity is the key to the energy transition. In the future, all the electric cars will also be driven by it and the hydrogen will be produced that the German steel industry so urgently needs to replace the climate-damaging coking coal in the blast furnaces.
In order for all the new wind turbines to be built quickly, however, suitable areas are required. “Two percent of the country’s area should be made available for the construction of wind turbines,” says the draft program. A separate law is to be passed for this purpose. A draft for this, which is intended to curb the disputed distance rules of the federal states via the Federal Building Act, is already in circulation with the Berlin authorities.
Finally, progress is also to be made in the building sector, where the most heat is consumed. Almost a quarter of the German energy consumption goes to the heating account of German households. Here, too, Germany has slept for a long time and is threatening to break the bar agreed with the EU.
“The aim must be to effectively reduce the heat requirement of the building (increase in energy efficiency)”, notes the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The entire heating sector (heating, hot water, process heat for industry) is responsible for around 40 percent of energy-related CO2 emissions in Germany every year. Therefore, in addition to energy-efficient construction and renovation, it is also about gradually replacing natural gas and gas heating as the number 1 heat supplier – for example with municipal long-distance heating networks and heat pumps.
The draft of the emergency program also states that “in the transport sector, no sufficient structural changes have been achieved in the past decades for a sustainable reduction in greenhouse gas emissions”. Electric cars should therefore continue to be promoted – when buying and for tax purposes when writing off company cars. Wissing’s predecessor Andreas Scheuer’s “master plan for charging infrastructure” will be fundamentally revised, and the traffic light promises that cooperation with the federal states and municipalities will be improved. To this end, the bus and truck fleets of municipal companies are also to be equipped with central charging stations for electricity and hydrogen. Combustion engines should gradually be allowed to emit less and less CO2. “From 2035, only zero-emission vehicles will be allowed.”
The traffic light wants to solve the “investment backlog” in rail and rail with more money. Freight traffic is to be increasingly shifted from truck to rail again: “The federal government has set itself the goal of increasing the market share of rail freight traffic to 25 percent by 2030.” In 2020, the market share in Germany in terms of transport performance was around 18.8 percent. Not only more rails for freight trains would be needed here, but also new terminals to get the freight from the road to the train. The municipalities should get more money to expand local transport and create more cycle paths and footpaths.
In the future, agriculture will also have to do more to reduce CO2 emissions. The traffic light wants to expand organic farming to 30 percent of agricultural land by 2030. Animal husbandry will be restricted and feeding and production of animal-based foods will be restructured. With the reduction in animal numbers, the traffic light promises large savings in greenhouse gas emissions. Likewise with more efficient use of fertilizers. Renaturation and afforestation should also bind carbon dioxide. Producers and consumers should also handle food more conscientiously and thus reduce wasteful consumption.
The complexity of the whole topic of energy transition and climate protection is also shown by problems such as the shortage of skilled workers. Whether you are a fitter for wind turbines with a head for heights or a specialist in the installation of heat pumps – training and the job market pose further challenges for the ambitious program and the ambitious goals of the traffic light. Together with the central associations of industry and trade, the Federal Employment Agency is trying to recruit professionally qualified specialists from Bosnia-Herzegovina, India, Brazil and Vietnam in occupations in electrical engineering, metal construction or plant mechanics for sanitary, heating and air conditioning. However, the former Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) had to realize that Germany is not particularly popular with foreign skilled workers when he begged for nursing staff in the Far East years ago.
The lengthy planning and approval processes involved in the construction of wind farms, power lines or rail routes have also been a stumbling block to the energy transition for years. Decades pass before the electricity and rail network can be expanded by a few kilometers. All the “acceleration laws” of the last few years have remained largely ineffective. The laws on spatial planning and planning approval hinder the state and economy in modernizing the infrastructure. Citizens’ initiatives, conservationists and bureaucracy all too easily and often arbitrarily put the brakes on important projects. It will be interesting to see how the two Green Ministers for Climate and Nature Conservation deal with this problem.
Conclusion: Overall, the “Climate Protection Immediate Program” is a hodgepodge of planned measures, from which umpteen changes in the law and amendments could result. The Economics Ministry has planned to adopt the finished program in the Federal Cabinet in July. Meanwhile, Habeck’s reform process has picked up speed.
