NRW launches new sustainability strategy

Published 1 October 2020

North Rhine-Westphalia is the world's largest public issuer of sustainability bonds / Minister President Laschet: North Rhine-Westphalia is committed to a future in which ecology and economy are responsibly compatible

The state government of North Rhine-Westphalia has adopted an updated sustainability strategy that has been supplemented with important topics for the future. With a wide range of goals and measures, the strategy shows the way to sustainable living and economic activity in the most populous federal state. The strategy was developed in cooperation with all ministries of the state government under the leadership of the Ministry of the Environment. The state government will appoint a sustainability advisory board to accompany the implementation, evaluation and further development of the sustainability strategy.

Minister President Armin Laschet: "With the newly presented sustainability strategy based on the 17 UN goals, North Rhine-Westphalia is making concrete contributions to the integrity of creation and to sustainable economic activity. North Rhine-Westphalia is a pioneering state: we show how sustainability can succeed here in a highly developed and densely populated industrial state in the heart of Europe. In this way, we can set an example worldwide. North Rhine-Westphalia is committed to a future in which ecology and economy are responsibly compatible."

"By positioning ourselves sustainably as a society and economy, we are shaping the future and future markets. Each and every individual can make a contribution to this in this decade of sustainability," says Environment Minister Ursula Heinen-Esser: "At the same time, the new strategy is also a central guard rail for the way out of the corona pandemic. This must be linked to tangible steps towards sustainability so that the economy can not only recover, but North Rhine-Westphalia can emerge from the crisis more climate-friendly, resource-efficient and sustainable."

The core of the new sustainability strategy is a set of 67 concrete goals and indicators. These are closely interlinked with the goals at federal level and are based on the global sustainability goals adopted by the United Nations on 25 September 2015 with the worldwide Agenda 2030. Ecology, economy and social coexistence are given equal consideration.

World's largest public issuer of sustainability bonds

Among other things, North Rhine-Westphalia plays a pioneering role in the issuance of sustainability bonds. In recent years, North Rhine-Westphalia has placed six sustainability bonds with a total volume of almost eleven billion euros on the financial markets. This makes North Rhine-Westphalia the largest public issuer of sustainability bonds worldwide and the first and so far only German state to issue bonds in this area. The multiple awards with industry prizes confirm the success of the state's sustainability bonds.

"The sustainability principle is particularly important to us - economically and politically," affirms Lutz Lienenkämper, Minister of Finance. "We achieve high demand on the market and at the same time enable important investments for the future of our country."

Wide range of targets and indicators

The spectrum of goals and indicators ranges from an increase in organic farming to 20 percent of agricultural land, to strengthening the environmental economy as an important future segment, to a minimum investment of 3.5 percent of GDP in innovations and solutions for the future. Other indicators describe the expansion of all-day care at primary school age and the increase in raw material productivity by 2030. In addition, the strategy includes important future topics such as digitalisation, the circular economy and electromobility.

Further information on the sustainability bonds

With the sustainability bond, the country is addressing investors who value a financial investment that supports social and ecological concepts. The investors' money flows into sustainable projects of the state from a total of seven project categories. These include, for example, exemption from contributions for the last year of kindergarten and the expansion of cycle paths and broadband infrastructure. The pension fund of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia is also managed 100 percent sustainably. The state pursues the goals of security, profitability and sustainability in its investment decisions.

The requirements for sustainable capital investments include both general ESG criteria (Environment, Social, Governance - ESG) and targeted criteria for the exclusion of ethically or ecologically particularly problematic business practices. This is how sustainable management with improved environmental standards succeeds in the industrial and energy state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The state invests exclusively in companies that are among the best rated in the areas of ecology, social affairs and corporate governance on the basis of numerous key figures. In particular, international norms and standards for the protection of the environment as well as ethical and social criteria formulated by the UN apply.

Further information

Keywords: News Blog NRW, SDG 2030, Environmental policy

Published 8. April 2014

Project film (2013) about the IBA Hamburg Wilhelmsburg

10:22 min., 3/2014, Ed.: IBA Hamburg

Over 60 innovative projects have been developed in the three key areas of "Metrozones", "City in Climate Change" and "Cosmopolis". The IBA project film presents them.

Project Info: http://sdg21.eu/db/iba-wilhelmsburg

Keywords:
DE-News, Movies, Movies 4 to 10 Min, IBA, Communities, News Blog Hamburg

Published 8 July 2022

DIW "Traffic Light Monitor": Energy transition must be accelerated considerably

Researchers at DIW Berlin have developed the "Ampel-Monitor Energiewende" - monitor the extent to which the government's energy policy agenda is being implemented - immense efforts are needed to close the gap between the announced targets and the current status quo

If the German government wants to achieve its energy policy goals, it must step up the pace. There are particularly large gaps between the current development and the targets for green hydrogen, electromobility and renewable heat, as the "Ampel-Monitor Energiewende" of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) shows. DIW researchers developed the monitor to track the progress of the energy transition towards climate neutrality using 15 indicators. The monitor, which is based on open data, accompanies progress on the government's goals with a focus on the period up to 2030. Selected results are now available on the DIW Berlin website (https://www.diw.de/ampel-monitor) are provided in the form of interactive graphics and short analyses and are updated regularly. All indicators and the underlying data can also be found open source on the Open Energy Tracker platform (https://openenergytracker.org).

"Our traffic light monitor makes it clear: the current pace of the energy transition is far too slow to achieve the 2030 targets," says DIW energy economist Wolf-Peter Schill, co-initiator of the monitor, which is presented in a study today. "If the government does not want to fall behind its target path, it must implement concrete and far-reaching steps promptly."

The pace of photovoltaic expansion must be tripled

The monitor shows: If the government wants to achieve its photovoltaic targets by 2030, it will have to triple the pace of expansion compared to the trend of the past twelve months, and even quadruple it for onshore wind power. At the current rate, the targets would clearly be missed. This would also make it impossible to achieve the coalition's goal of increasing the share of renewable energies in electricity consumption from the current 42 percent to 80 percent in 2030.

There is also a large gap in renewable heat, for which a share of renewable energies of 50 percent is envisaged in 2030. For this to happen, the share must grow by almost four percentage points per year - although it has not even increased by three percentage points since 2012.

"The Federal Government's to-do list is still long. The energy policy goals that have been set are not self-fulfilling; development must gain momentum in all areas." Alexander Roth

E-car fleet still growing very slowly - charging infrastructure inadequate

If the coalition's goal of increasing the e-car fleet to 15 million vehicles by 2030 is to be achieved, an average of around 130,000 vehicles must be registered in Germany every month. In addition to the existing purchase premiums, the EU ban on combustion engines, which is currently being voted on, could certainly contribute to more electromobility," explains study author Adeline Guéret.

According to the Monitor's data, the charging infrastructure must increase even more if the target is not to be missed. Instead of the current 1200 charging points per month, 8,700 would have to go into operation - around seven times as many.

From practically zero to ten gigawatts in green hydrogen

Most needs to happen with green hydrogen, as the traffic light monitor shows: The electrolysis capacity of around ten gigawatts in 2030 targeted in the coalition agreement still seems a long way off, given an electrical capacity of around 60 megawatts at the end of last year.

"With its open and constantly updated energy data, our traffic light monitor makes an important contribution to an informed and fact-based energy policy debate," concludes study author Alexander Roth. "It shows that the German government still has a long to-do list. The goals set are not self-fulfilling; development must gain momentum in all areas."

Source: DIW press release dated 6 July 2022

Keywords:
DE-News, Renewable, Climate protection, PV, Environmental policy, eMobility

Published 7 October 2019

Exemplary sustainable procurement in the Berlin authorities

Since January, Berlin has had what it claims to be the toughest administrative regulations for procurement and the environment in the country. Thomas Schwilling from the responsible department has accompanied the development and knows about its effect - and the hurdles. An interview:
www.nachhaltigkeitsrat.de/aktuelles/was-berlin-in-sachen-nachhaltiger-beschaffung-unternimmt/

Keywords:
Procurement, DE-News, Communities, Sustainable management, News Blog Berlin, Transition Town, Environmental policy

Published 17 November 2017

Comparison of German states in renewable energies: Baden-Württemberg new front-runner

New study makes the progress of the federal states in the energy transition transparent

Berlin/Stuttgart, 16 November 2017. Baden-Württemberg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Bavaria are the leading federal states in the field of renewable energies. This is the result of the comparison of the federal states published today, which the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) and the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) have prepared for the fifth time on behalf of and in cooperation with the Agency for Renewable Energies (AEE). Based on 59 indicators, the analysis assesses in detail the political efforts and successes of the federal states in the use of renewable energies as well as in the associated economic and technical transformation. Hesse, Berlin and Saarland are at the bottom of the ranking.

The federal states are important players in the energy transition. They not only implement the energy goals of the federal government and the EU with concrete expansion on the ground, but they can also decisively advance or slow down the progress of the energy transition through their own goals, priorities and programmes as well as the design of framework conditions. The Comparison of Renewable Energies in Germany by DIW Berlin, ZSW and AEE shows the political efforts as well as the successes in the use of renewable energies and in technological and economic structural change on the basis of 59 individual indicators and in four summarising indicator groups. On the one hand, indicators record, for example, the energy policy programmes of the respective federal states, the shares of renewable energies in energy consumption and the successes in expanding individual technologies such as wind power or solar energy. On the other hand, research efforts in the field of renewable energies, support for the settlement of companies from the sector and patent applications in this field are analysed.

Federal states can learn from each other in individual areas of action

"With the Renewable Energies Comparison of the German Federal States, which is now in its fifth year, we can make the energy transition developments comparable at the federal level and thus assess who is acting particularly successfully and where there is still potential for optimisation," explains Prof. Dr. Claudia Kemfert, Head of the Energy, Transport and Environment Department at DIW Berlin. "The current study shows new highs for many indicators, for example with regard to the shares of renewable energies in the federal states and a progressive expansion in the various technologies. In general, most countries are on the right track, even if there are differences in the pace of development," Kemfert continues.

Baden-Württemberg tops the list ahead of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

The highest number of points in the current overall ranking was achieved by Baden-Württemberg, which thus reached the top position for the first time. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania came in second. Both states improved by one position compared to the last ranking in 2014. The last leader, Bavaria, achieved the third-highest total number of points.
Prof. Dr. Frithjof Staiß, Executive Director of the ZSW, comments on the results: "The variety of indicators allows a detailed classification of the strengths and weaknesses of each federal state. The three front-runners alone differ significantly here: Baden-Württemberg scores above all with its political input for the use of renewable energies, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is strong in the area of structural change and Bavaria continues to show high expansion rates for renewables."

"However, not everything is bad in Saarland, which brings up the rear, nor is Baden-Württemberg a pioneer in all areas and could now lay its hands in its lap," Staiß continues. "There is potential for improvement there, for example, in the economic importance of renewable energies. In this area, on the other hand, the last-placed Saarland can at least score points in the development of sales with renewable technologies."

Need for action even with previous successes

While progress can be seen in most individual indicators for all countries, there are also backward trends in various places in individual countries, for example in the share of renewables in district heating or in the development of energy-related CO2 emissions. Philipp Vohrer, AEE Managing Director, comments: "Even where encouraging values can be noted, the system transformation is far from complete. The study clearly shows where things are going wrong and where there is still an urgent need for action. There is still room for improvement everywhere - here we can learn something from the countries that scored better on the individual points. For the successful realisation of the energy transition and in particular the achievement of the climate goals, further efforts are needed, also and especially in the federal states.

Further information

The entire study as well as a summary, reflections on the individual countries and charts to the results can be found collected on the page www.foederal-erneuerbar.de/bundeslaendervergleich-erneuerbare-energien.

Under the link you will also find some downloadable Quotes from AEE Managing Director Philipp Vohrer on the background to the comparison of the federal states and on the results of the individual states.

The study was prepared as part of the Federal Renewable Energy project with funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

The participating institutes

The DIW Berlin (German Institute for Economic Research) has been one of the leading economic research institutes in Germany since 1925. It researches economic and socio-scientific correlations in socially relevant subject areas and advises politics and society on this basis. The institute is networked nationally and internationally, provides research infrastructure that is used worldwide and promotes young researchers. DIW Berlin is independent and, as a member of the Leibniz Association, is predominantly financed by public funds.
www.diw.de

The Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) is one of the leading institutes for applied research in the fields of photovoltaics, renewable fuels, battery technology and fuel cells as well as energy system analysis. Around 230 scientists, engineers and technicians are currently employed at the three ZSW locations in Stuttgart, Ulm and Widderstall. In addition, there are 90 scientific and student assistants.

The ZSW is a member of the Innovationsallianz Baden-Württemberg (innBW), an association of 13 non-university, business-related research institutes.
www.zsw-bw.de

Keywords:
Stakeholders, DE-News, Renewable, Climate protection, New books and studies, News Blog Baden-Württemberg, News Blog Bavaria, News Blog Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, PV, PlusEnergy house/settlement, SDG 2030, Environmental policy