KIWUH - Competence and Information Centre Forest and Wood starts its work

The nationwide Forest and Wood Competence and Information Centre started its work on 1 January 2019.

At the beginning of the year, the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) gave the go-ahead for the Competence and Information Centre Forest and Wood (KIWUH) under the umbrella of the Agency of Renewable Resources (Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V.). (FNR).

"With the Competence and Information Centre, we are bundling important tasks and competences in the field of forests and wood at one location. At the same time, we are creating further highly qualified jobs in rural areas in the new federal states" explains the Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, Julia Klöckner, on the occasion of the opening of the KIWUH.

On behalf of the BMEL, the Competence Centre will support the FNR as project management agency for the funding programme Renewable Resources. In addition, the KIWUH is responsible for technical and consumer information on the topics of forests, sustainable forestry and wood use and their contribution to climate protection.

A second important funding pillar, which will be newly established in the KIWUH, is the project sponsorship of the FNR for the Forest Climate Fund, which is jointly managed by the BMEL and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). This fund, established in 2013, is dedicated to the specific promotion of measures to adapt forests to climate change and to maintain and expand CO₂-reduction potential of forests and wood.

The Competence and Information Centre, with a total of 41 employees, is a department within the FNR based in Gülzow-Prüzen in Mecklenburg. The head of the department is Marcus Kühling, a graduate forest scientist.

"The World Climate Conference in December 2018 has once again brought home to us the urgent need for action to preserve forest ecosystems and for a sustainable forestry and timber industry for the benefit of climate and species protection," says Marcus Kühling. "The forestry and timber sector is one of the key industries on the way to an economically, ecologically and socially sustainable society. Stable and naturally managed forests are not only an indispensable supplier of raw materials with a view to conserving and replacing finite resources. They are habitats for many protected animal and plant species and the most important recreational space for people."

Background:

With the Competence and Information Centre for Forests and Wood (KIWUH), the Federal Government is responding to the growing public need for information on issues of sustainable forest management and intelligent wood use identified in the Forest Strategy 2020 and the Climate Protection Plan 2050.

With the transfer of the project sponsorship for the "Forest Climate Fund" to the FNR, the KIWUH takes over a total of over 150 ongoing research projects with a funding volume of around 50 million euros.
(Further information under www.waldklimafonds.de)

From the Promotion programme "Renewable raw materials currently supports more than 100 projects aimed at strengthening sustainable forestry and safeguarding forest functions, as well as more than 70 other projects on sustainable timber management, with a total funding volume of around 25 million euros. Research fields here include, for example, the breeding of forest seeds that meet new climate and usage requirements, the development of strategies for optimising "near-natural silviculture" for the supply of raw materials, the development of environmentally friendly insulation and building materials based on the renewable raw material wood, or the social dialogue on the bioeconomy and sustainability.

The Agency for Renewable Resources has been active for 25 years as the BMEL's project management agency for the "Renewable Resources" funding programme. The FNR has been supporting research topics in the fields of sustainable forestry and innovative wood use since its foundation. Since 2016, the FNR has also been entrusted with the operational tasks of implementing the German Forest Days and the Charter for Wood 2.0. It also provides specialist information and public relations work.

Source: PM of the FNR from 3.1.2019

Keywords: Stakeholders, Wood construction, Climate protection, News Blog Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

Published 17 December 2020

What does the EU's CO2 reduction target mean for the German energy transition?

*For photovoltaics and wind, an annual expansion of 10-14 GW and 9 GW, respectively, is necessary by 2030 to provide sufficient CO2-free electricity for Germany. © Fig.: Fraunhofer ISE*

In the context of the Green Deal, the EU's tightened targets on the path to climate neutrality envisage a reduction in CO2 emissions of 55% by 2030 and 100% by 2050. Against the background of these tightened parameters, the question arises as to the impact on the energy transition in Germany. Based on its energy system model REMod, Fraunhofer ISE has calculated the consequences of the new EU targets for the expansion of renewable energies in Germany and now presents the results in a short study.

In February 2020, Fraunhofer ISE presented the study "Pathways to a Climate-Neutral Energy System - The Energy Transition in the Context of Societal Behaviour", which investigated the influence of societal behaviour on possible transformation paths of the German energy system towards an almost complete reduction of energy-related CO₂-emissions in the year 2050. The calculations carried out with the REMod energy system model were based on the targets set by the German government at the time of preparation, i.e. a reduction in German CO₂-emissions by 55% in 2030 and 95% in 2050 compared to 1990.

In response to the tightening of the European targets from 40% to 55% by 2030, which has now been implemented as part of the European Green Deal, the Institute has recalculated. The transformation paths for Germany considered in the February study were revised with a view to reducing Germany's CO₂-emissions of 65% in 2030 and complete climate neutrality of the energy system in 2050. The scientists from Freiburg recalculated all scenarios of their study from February (reference, insistence on conventional technologies, unacceptance of large infrastructure measures, sufficiency). As an additional aspect, they added an investigation of the sensitivity for import prices of green hydrogen and synthetic fuels. The short study mainly considers the reference scenario in order to be able to go into more detail on the changes caused by the target tightening. However, the study also identifies corridors for the expansion of a variety of technologies that can be derived from different scenarios. In the case of photovoltaics and wind, annual additions of 10-14 GW and 9 GW respectively are required by 2030 in order to achieve sufficient CO₂-free electricity for Germany.

"The update of our energy end-use study shows that achieving the climate protection targets, even with a greater reduction in greenhouse gas emissions than previously assumed, is feasible from a technical and systemic point of view, albeit with greater efforts," says Dr Christoph Kost, head of the Energy Systems and Energy Economics Group and author of the short study. "A target tightening of energy-related CO₂-emissions leads to a higher direct or indirect use of renewably generated electricity in the consumption sectors. This in turn requires a much greater expansion of wind and solar power generation facilities." Furthermore, the short study shows that the expansion of fluctuating renewable energies requires a strong expansion of system flexibility.

If we want to achieve a reduction in CO₂emissions by 65% by 2030, battery-electric vehicles must account for 30-35% of passenger transport in the mobility sector, for example. In a climate-neutral energy system by 2050, conventional internal combustion engines will be virtually eliminated from passenger car transport as well as from freight transport.

"Heat pumps - used in households or to supply district heating networks - must become a key technology for heat supply with immediate effect," says Institute Director Prof. Dr. Hans-Martin Henning, summarising the results for the building sector. With a view to the CO₂-avoidance costs, he adds: "The tightening of the target used here leads to an increase in CO₂-avoidance costs. However, these depend to a large extent on the development of final energy demand."

More detailed explanations of the central statements of the newly calculated transformation paths of the energy transition in Germany can be found on the website of Fraunhofer ISE: "Pathways to a climate-neutral energy system 2050 - The energy transition in the context of societal behaviours - Update under a target of 65% CO₂-reduction in 2030 and 100% in 2050.".

Link to the study "Pathways to a climate-neutral energy system - The energy transition in the context of societal behaviour", February 2020, update December 2020:

www.ise.fraunhofer.de/de/veroeffentlichungen/studien/wege-zu-einem-klimaneutralen-energiesystem.html

Keywords:
DE-News, Renewable, Climate protection, New books and studies, PV, Environmental policy