Web database of sustainable settlements and neighbourhoods

Greenpeace study: Reduction of climate-damaging subsidies can relieve federal budget by 46 billion euros annually

Published
Neurath coal-fired power plant near Grevenbroich in the Rhenish lignite mining region. Steam rises from cooling towers. © Photo: Bernd Lauter / Greenpeace

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.


Keywords: DE-News, Climate protection, Mobility, Sustainable management, New books and studies, Resource efficiency, Environmental policy

You may also like

Published

Mayors adopt key points on sustainability

More than 30 mayors agreed on new strategic cornerstones for sustainability on Thursday, 14 November 2019. Among them is Bonn's Lord Mayor Ashok Sridharan. The city leaders want to expand the cities' scope for action and call for sustainable development to be placed at the heart of political decision-making.

The key issues paper is an important contribution to positioning the local level in the German sustainability debate. It contains concrete impulses for the further development of the German sustainability strategy. The paper makes clear where the strengths of cities lie and how important they are as partners of the Federal Government in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

"Sustainability goes beyond climate protection. In addition to efforts to protect the climate, we must also be concerned with the social, ecological and economic framework for sustainability as a whole. Now and for future generations," explained Burkhard Jung, Mayor of the City of Leipzig and President of the German Association of Cities at the dialogue meeting.

"Even though it is a global issue, it has to be implemented in the cities and villages, and people have to live with our decisions there. Local politics is more important than it has been given credit for so far. The federal and state governments must coordinate their goals and measures even more strongly and in a structured dialogue with the municipalities and enable the municipalities to take their own action for more sustainability," said Jung.

Sustainability in Bonn

With its sustainability strategy adopted in February 2019, Bonn has set itself a systemic agenda for the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. The declaration of climate emergency in July was now followed by the setting of an ambitious target: climate neutrality by 2035.

Bonn's mayor Ashok Sridharan, who is also president of ICLEI, a global network of cities, municipalities and regions for sustainability, says: "Sustainability, and climate protection in particular, is an existential issue for our cities. Our concrete projects for climate-friendly, energy-saving mobility and our urban planning influence how today's young people will live later. Moreover, our experiences provide the data on which meaningful strategies can be built."

An important topic of the key issues paper is cooperation. Bonn not only maintains project partnerships in which sustainable development projects find their place, but is also involved in professional cooperations such as ICLEI's "Green Circular Cities Coalition" or the "PREVENT Waste Alliance", which was launched by Federal Development Minister Gerd Müller.

Also anchored in the paper as an essential aspect of sustainability in the city society is the topic of education for sustainable development (ESD). Bonn's ESD activities include not only proven event formats such as the United Nations Day or the SDG Days, which have been established since 2018, but also a variety of other educational offerings, some of which are also offered in English.

Dialogue "Sustainable City

The "Sustainable City" dialogue is a long-standing project of the mayors. The dialogue process is supported and facilitated by the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE). In this process, the lord mayors advocate for sustainable development in their cities in a special way. They exchange their own approaches as political leaders and explore the question of how municipal sustainability policy can gain more profile and weight in federal politics as well.

pdf download "Cornerstone paper of the mayors":
www.nachhaltigkeitsrat.de/...Strategische_Eckpunkte_November_2019.pdf



Keywords:
Bonn, DE-News, Communities, SDG 2030, Environmental policy

Solar industry sales slump: down 74.2% from 2011 to 2014.
Published

Solar industry sales slump: down 74.2% from 2011 to 2014.

WIESBADEN: In 2014, companies in Germany achieved a turnover of 3.7 billion euros with goods and services from the solar industry. Compared to 2011, the last economically strong year, this corresponds to an overall decline in turnover of 74.2% or 10.6 billion euros. The crisis in the solar industry in Germany was already apparent in previous years: turnover totalled 9.5 billion in 2012 and 5.1 billion in 2013. The declining economic importance of the solar industry in Germany is primarily due to negative developments in the photovoltaic industry. Between 2011 and 2014, sales of photovoltaic systems and components fell by 75.5 % from 13.3 to 3.3 billion euros. Turnover also fell sharply in the solar thermal sector - from 1.0 billion euros in 2011 to 0.4 billion euros in 2014. Detailed results can be found in the specialist series "Turnover in environmental protection goods and services, 2014". Further information on the survey can be found in the environmental economics section.

The German Solar Energy Society DGS has commented on the developments in a pointed manner: www.dgs.de/index.php?id=3364&type=0#13585 (5th article in the newsletter of 22 July 2016)
Source: Press release destatis.de



Keywords:
DE-News, Renewable, PV, Environmental policy

Published

CarSharing in Germany continues to grow

CarSharing statistics 2019

The number of CarSharing customers in Germany rose to 2.46 million over the course of last year. Above-average percentage growth was recorded by station-based CarSharing services. Station-based CarSharing also remains the backbone of the expansion in terms of area and is now available at 740 locations in Germany.

At the beginning of 2019, 2.46 million customers in Germany are registered with a car-sharing service, 350,000 more than in the previous year. Station-based car sharing providers are experiencing above-average growth with an increase of 21.5 percent. In free-floating CarSharing, customer growth is slowing somewhat and amounts to 14.9 percent. Overall, CarSharing in Germany continues to be on a clear growth path.

Graphic: bcs

Gunnar Nehrke, Managing Director of Bundesverband CarSharing e.V., comments:

"The positive development in the German CarSharing market over the past years shows: More and more people want to deal responsibly with the resource car and practically shape the traffic turnaround."

The association is particularly pleased with the strong growth in the area of station-based CarSharing services, as several scientific studies had shown in 2018 that this variant has a particularly high traffic-relieving effect. Association Managing Director Nehrke explains:

"In station-based CarSharing, 70 to 80 percent of customers no longer own a car. Cities and municipalities should specifically promote this variant by setting up CarSharing stations in public areas.

In connection with CarSharing funding, the association criticises the Federal Ministry of Transport: "Even one and a half years after the Carsharing Act (CsgG) came into force, cities and municipalities cannot practically apply this law in all points because the Ministry does not present the ordinances that are the basis for it.

Christian Hochfeld, Director of Agora Verkehrswende, explains the current development of CarSharing:

"It is important that CarSharing becomes visible and available in public spaces. However, CarSharing should not be seen as an individual measure, but as an integral part of a municipal mobility strategy. After all, the right traffic policy framework conditions - such as comprehensive parking space management and the expansion of environmental zones - can further strengthen the positive effects of CarSharing services."

Strong growth also on the supply side

20,200 CarSharing vehicles will be available in Germany at the beginning of 2019, 2,250 more than in the previous year. Station-based providers account for more than half of the supply with 11,200 vehicles, while 9,000 vehicles will be used in free-floating CarSharing.

In the "free-floating" market segment, 890 vehicles belong to combined station-based/free-floating offerings. This new form of offering is used by some formerly purely station-based providers in order to be able to offer the advantages of both CarSharing variants from a single source. New combined systems were launched in 2018 in Leipzig and Karlsruhe, for example.

Station-based CarSharing remains the backbone of CarSharing expansion

Graphic: bcs

Station-based CarSharing is currently available at 740 locations in Germany. This is 63 locations more than in the previous year. Pure free-floating services are currently available in seven metropolitan areas and a few surrounding communities of these major cities.

E-share stagnates at a high level, more e-vehicles in the fleets of station-based providers

Graphic: bcs

The number of electric vehicles in the German CarSharing fleet remained almost unchanged in 2018. However, there are shifts in the number of electric vehicles in the individual fleet segments: The number of electric vehicles in the free-floating fleets of car manufacturers remained largely unchanged at 1,025 vehicles. The medium-sized CarSharing providers in the station-based sector were able to increase the number of electric vehicles from 321 to 498.

On the other hand, the operators of pure e-car sharing projects recorded declines. Here, the number of vehicles fell from 431 to 304. This is mainly due to the fact that the period of public funding or the leasing contracts for a high number of vehicles expired in 2018. As the vehicles had not reached the threshold for economic viability, they were removed from the fleet. Gunnar Nehrke explains:

"The electric share in CarSharing is 50 times higher than in the national car fleet. This shows: The providers want to switch to emission-free drives. But the framework conditions are not yet right: the vehicles are still too expensive. And there is still no funding concept for the installation of charging infrastructure at car sharing stations."



Keywords:
CarSharing, DE-News, Mobility, Resource efficiency, eMobility

    en_GB
    de_DE en_GB