Hamburg, 11. 11. 2020 - By phasing out ten particularly climate-damaging subsidies in the energy, transport and agricultural sectors, Germany can generate up to 46 billion euros in revenue annually.
This is the result of a new study by the "Forum Ökologisch-Soziale Marktwirtschaft" on behalf of Greenpeace. (Study "Ten climate-damaging subsidies in focus" online at: https://bit.ly/2JVu3tq).
A total of almost 100 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents would be saved annually compared to today if the subsidies under consideration were reformed. This is roughly equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from passenger car traffic in Germany. The study appears in the run-up to the publication of the tax estimate by Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) announced for Thursday. It shows how the federal government can simultaneously reduce the immense new debt caused by the Corona crisis and make progress on climate protection. "Now the German government can kill two birds with one stone by reducing climate-damaging subsidies: lower CO2 emissions and relieve the budget by billions. In doing so, it eliminates significant disadvantages for climate-friendly industries and can accelerate the shift towards a sustainable, ecologically oriented economy," says Bastian Neuwirth, climate expert at Greenpeace.
A ranking examines the phase-out of ten particularly climate-damaging subsidies in Germany and sorts them according to where the most tax money and CO2 can be saved. The abolition of the tax exemption for kerosene, the withdrawal of tax concessions for electricity generation and the reduction of electricity price exemptions for industry prove to be particularly effective for climate protection and budget restructuring. In arithmetical terms, the German government could save around 73 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents and 18 billion euros of taxpayers' money each year with these measures alone. In the middle of the ranking are the VAT exemption for international flights, the distance allowance, the diesel privilege and the reduced VAT rate on animal products. "Continuing to hand out extra money for climate-damaging economic activity is completely out of step with the times. Each of these climate-damaging subsidies must be overturned as soon as possible," says Neuwirth.
Reduction of subsidies makes German 2030 climate target achievable
The gradual dismantling of the ten subsidies that are particularly harmful to the climate can shorten the Federal Government's delay in achieving its own climate targets: according to the Federal Environment Agency, Germany will emit around 71 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents too much in 2030 with the measures it has adopted so far to achieve the 2030 climate target. A rapid reduction in subsidies can therefore help to remedy this situation. At the international level, Germany and the G7 countries already committed in 2016 to reducing climate-damaging subsidies by 2025.
Net public electricity generation reached a record share of 59.7 per cent in 2023. The share of the load was 57.1 per cent. This is the result of an analysis presented today by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. New records were set for wind and solar power in 2023. In contrast, generation from lignite (-27 per cent) and hard coal (-35 per cent) fell sharply. Photovoltaics stood out in the expansion of generation capacity: at around 14 gigawatts, the expansion was in double digits for the first time and significantly exceeded the German government's statutory climate protection target. Source of the data is the platform energy-charts.info
Photovoltaic systems generated approx. 59.9 TWh in 2023, of which 53.5 TWh was fed into the public grid and 6.4 TWh was used for self-consumption. At around 9 TWh, June 2023 was the month with the highest solar power generation ever. The maximum solar output of 40.1 GW was reached on 7 July at 13:15, which corresponded to a 68% share of electricity generation. In 2023, the expansion of photovoltaics significantly exceeded the German government's targets: instead of the planned 9 gigawatts, 13.2 gigawatts were installed by November; according to preliminary data, this will be more than 14 gigawatts by the end of 2023. This is a sharp increase compared to 2022 (7.44 GW). This means that PV expansion in Germany has reached double digits for the first time.
The Hydropower increased from 17.5 TWh in 2022 to 20.5 TWh. The installed capacity of 4.94 GW has hardly changed compared to previous years.
The Biomass at 42.3 TWh was at the level of 2022 (42.2 TWh). The installed capacity is 9 GW.
In total, the renewable energies approx. 260 TWh in 2023, around 7.2 per cent more than in the previous year (242 TWh). The share of renewable energy generated in Germany in the load, i.e. the electricity mix that actually comes out of the socket, was 57.1 per cent compared to 50.2 per cent in 2022. In addition to net public electricity generation, total net electricity generation also includes in-house generation by industry and commerce, which is mainly generated using gas. The share of renewable energies in total net electricity generation, including the power plants of "businesses in the manufacturing, mining and quarrying sectors", is around 54.9 per cent (2022: 48.2 per cent).
The Load in the electricity grid totalled 457 TWh, around 26 TWh less than in 2022. Due to the high electricity prices and higher temperatures, electricity was probably saved significantly. The increase in self-consumption of solar power is also reducing the load. The load includes the electricity consumption and grid losses, but not the pumped-storage power consumption and the self-consumption of conventional power plants.
Sharp decline in coal-fired power
After German coal-fired power plants ramped up their production in 2022 - due to the outage of French nuclear power plants, but also due to the distortions in the electricity market caused by the war in Ukraine - their share fell significantly in 2023. As a result, generation in November 2023 was 27 per cent below the same month in the previous year due to the drop in coal-fired electricity exports, but also because of the good wind conditions.
Overall, production from Lignite for public electricity consumption fell by around 27 per cent, from 105.9 to 77.5 TWh. This is in addition to 3.7 TWh for industrial own consumption. Gross electricity generation fell to the level of 1963.
Net production from Hard coal-fired power plants for public electricity consumption was 36.1 TWh (-35 per cent) and 0.7 TWh for industrial own consumption. It was 21.4 TWh lower than in 2022. Gross electricity generation fell to the level of 1955. Natural gas for electricity generation remained slightly below the previous year's level at 45.8 TWh for public electricity supply and 29.6 for industrial own consumption. Due to the shutdown of the last three nuclear power plants in Emsland, Neckarwestheim and Isar on 15 April 2023, the Nuclear power only contributed 6.72 TWh to electricity generation, which corresponds to a share of 1.5 per cent.
Battery storage systems are developing rapidly
The expansion of fluctuating renewable energies also increases the need for grid expansion and storage capacity. Battery storage systems, which are installed on a decentralised basis to buffer the generation of wind and solar power, are particularly suitable. The private household segment is showing strong growth, as is the case with photovoltaic systems. Overall, installed battery capacity almost doubled from 4.4 GW in 2022 to 7.6 GW in 2023, while storage capacity rose from 6.5 GWh to 11.2 GWh. The capacity of German pumped storage plants is around 6 GW.
Declining exports and exchange electricity prices
After an export surplus of 27.1 TWh was achieved in electricity trading in 2022, an import surplus of 11.7 TWh was recorded in 2023. This was due in particular to the lower electricity generation costs in neighbouring European countries in the summer and the high costs of CO2-certificates. The majority of imports came from Denmark (10.7 TWh), Norway (4.6 TWh) and Sweden (2.9 TWh). Germany exported electricity to Austria (5.8 TWh) and Luxembourg (3.6 TWh).
In winter, electricity exchange prices rose again and CO2-certificates became more favourable. This already led to a balance in November and, in conjunction with high wind power generation, to export surpluses in December. In contrast to its neighbouring countries (Austria, Switzerland, France), Germany also has sufficient power plant capacity in winter to produce electricity for export.
The average volume-weighted day-ahead price Exchange electricity price fell sharply to €92.29/MWh or 9.23 cents/kWh (2022: €230.57/MWh). This puts it back at the 2021 level.
A detailed presentation of the data on electricity generation, imports/exports, prices, installed capacity, emissions and climate data can be found on the Energy Charts Server: www.energy-charts.info/downloads/Stromerzeugung_2023.pdf
This first version of the annual evaluation takes into account all electricity generation data from the Leipzig electricity exchange EEX and the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) up to and including 31 December 2023. The quarter-hourly values from the EEX were energetically corrected using the available monthly data from the Federal Statistical Office on electricity generation up to September 2023. For the remaining months, the correction factors were estimated on the basis of past monthly and annual data. The extrapolated values from October to December are subject to larger tolerances.
This is based on the data for the German Net electricity generation to the public electricity supply. It is the difference between gross electricity generation and the power plants' own consumption and is fed into the public grid. The electricity industry calculates with net figures, e.g. for electricity trading and grid utilisation, and only net electricity generation is traded on the electricity exchanges. It represents the electricity mix that actually comes out of the socket at home.
In addition to the well-known ecological footprint, which describes the use of biocapacity by the population (in Germany about 2.5 times the available area), an attempt is currently being made with funds from the Ministry of Education and Research to develop an ecological handprint for positive sustainability effects.
This should enable consumers to orient themselves towards sustainable consumption. The Wuppertal CSCP, a spin-off of the Wuppertal Climate Institute, was commissioned. Three universities are involved: Kassel, Witten Herdecke and Lüneburg. On 5.11.2015 the kick-off workshop took place in Berlin. In June 2016 there was a stakeholder workshop and on 22/23.9.2016 the 3rd workshop will take place in Lüneburg.
In addition to construction, the project is about food and consumer goods. Various players from the economy were invited to the specialist conference.
In December 2020, the German Timber Industry Association (HDH) launched the "Initiative for Climate Protection in the Timber Industry". The aim is to support the industry companies in the necessary reduction of CO2 emissions. The initiative is now being further developed into an innovation cluster.
"We started with the claim to offer companies CO2 accounting and to accompany them to certified climate neutrality," says HDH CEO Denny Ohnesorge. "The response has been overwhelming: more than 40 companies have joined the initiative so far. We quickly realised that this can only be a first step. Climate neutrality is good, but further reducing energy consumption in processes and thus saving energy and greenhouse gases is even better. The best energy is the energy that is not consumed.
Under this motto, an Erfa group is to be established within the framework of the cluster and concrete ideas and measures are to be developed with the participation of consultants, service providers and science. This promotes the transfer of knowledge in this subject area and helps the companies to identify further CO2 saving opportunities in all operational areas, to introduce process innovations and to initiate corresponding projects. The innovation cluster will start with three online seminars for all interested parties:
1st CO2 balancing: 08.11.2021, 15-16 hrs
2. climate strategy for companies: 06.12.2021, 3 - 4 p.m.
3. sustainable mobility concepts for companies, 13.12.2021, 3 - 4 p.m.
The HDH is supported by the Gesellschaft für Klimaschutz Holzindustrie - GKH GmbH, which also carries out the certification of climate neutrality according to internationally recognised standards. Further information is provided on the website of the industry initiative climateprotectionwoodindustry.com and on woodindustry.com published. The establishment of the innovation cluster is supported by the Agency of Renewable Resources (Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e. V.). (FNR) and funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
The complete Programme of the seminar series and all information about registration is available here.
Background
In December 2020, the German Association of the Wood and Plastics Processing Industries and Related Industries (HDH) launched the CLIMATE PROTECTION IN THE WOOD INDUSTRY initiative. The goal: to support companies in making their contribution to climate protection by reducing greenhouse gases - for a climate-neutral industry. The initiative builds on the experiences of the climate pact of the furniture industry. Against the background of increasingly important climate protection measures, it is an offer to all companies in the sector to become climate neutral with the support of the HDH and its member associations.
The 52° Nord quarter in Berlin's southeast convinced this year's jury of experts and, with its sustainable and architecturally coherent overall concept, wins the German Housing 2020 Award for the best quarter development.
The Award Deutscher Wohnungsbau is the first award for developers and clients in the area of multi-storey residential construction. The architecture prize is awarded by a jury of experts. This year's jury members include Reiner Nagel, Chairman of the Executive Board Federal Foundation for Building Culture, Sabine Schneider, Editorial Manager of the architecture magazine Baumeister and last year's winner Lars Krückeberg, GRAFT Architekten.
The award-winning 52° North quarter covers around 100,000 m² and is located in the Grünau district of Treptow-Köpenick between the banks of the Dahme River and the Teltow Canal on a former industrial wasteland. A striking feature of this district development is the 6,000 m² water basin, the ecological and visual heart of the district: as part of the overall sustainable concept, rainwater from the surrounding buildings is collected here and biologically purified by planting along the sides. Evaporation returns the rainwater to the natural water cycle and improves the microclimate in the quarter - an example of contemporary rainwater management based on the model of the sponge city.
A neighbourhood square with a café, publicly accessible riverside promenades, play and recreation areas, an energy centre and an eco-nursery round off the concept. Daniel Riedl, member of the Management Board of Vonovia SE and responsible for BUWOG's development in Germany: "In Quartier 52° Nord, we have implemented a quality-first approach, i.e. with the first construction phase we have designed a sustainable residential environment that creates flair and quality of life at the same time - for the new residents and also for the people in the surrounding area. This award confirms to us that architectural and sustainable qualities must be thought of together and are essential success factors in neighbourhood development."
With a large number of different architectural firms designing the individual buildings on the various construction sites, Quartier 52° Nord is today one of the largest inhabited architectural parks of the post-reunification era. The area is being developed in sections, with overall completion expected by 2024. Three construction phases are currently under construction in Quartier 52° Nord: BUWOG THE VIEW, BUWOG REGATTAHOF and the BUWOG LOTSENHÄUSER - realised in timber hybrid construction (KfW-40).
About BUWOG BUWOG can look back on 69 years of experience in the residential real estate sector. In Germany, BUWOG Bauträger GmbH currently concentrates on property development with a focus on Berlin, Hamburg and Leipzig and currently has a development pipeline of around 14,500 residential units. BUWOG is a subsidiary of Vonovia SE, Europe's leading housing company headquartered in Bochum (Germany).
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