Energy policy in transition: Reiche calls for a realignment for Germany!

Energy policy in transition: Reiche calls for a realignment for Germany!

Federal Minister of Economics Katharina Reiche has announced a comprehensive realignment of Germany's energy policy. Given the current challenges, which are exacerbated by Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, Reiche emphasizes that a pragmatic energy policy is necessary. She points out that many of these economic burdens are homegrown and caused by high taxes, energy prices and labor costs.

A central element of their announcement is the need to establish new gas power plants. These are intended to help secure energy supplies while at the same time driving forward the energy transition. Reiche advocates a technology-open approach and emphasizes that not all of the necessary solutions to achieve climate neutrality will be available by 2025. In addition, the capture and storage of carbon dioxide is highlighted as an important measure to reduce unavoidable emissions.

Climate protection and challenges

In the context of the energy transition, however, Reiche warns that overemphasizing climate protection also brings problems. In particular, the expansion of renewable energies is proving to be costly and risky, which could have a negative impact on the competitiveness of energy-intensive industries. She therefore calls for better coordination between the expansion of renewable energies and the necessary infrastructure to meet increasing demands.

With a look at EU policy, the need to adapt to the goals of European climate protection policy is also mentioned. These aim to mitigate the effects of climate change and continually reduce environmentally harmful activities. Greenhouse gas emissions in the EU reached around 3 million kilotons CO₂eq in 2020, which shows that the fuel sector, transport and industry are significant emitters.

European climate goals and RePower EU

The EU has set itself the goal of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. To this end, the EU climate law was passed in July 2021, which provides for climate neutrality to be legally anchored. The Fit for 55 climate package and the REPower EU initiative play a crucial role in this process to ensure independence from Russian fossil fuels and accelerate the transition to clean energy. Essential parts of this strategy are diversifying energy supply and increasing energy efficiency.

Overall, Reiche's approaches and the European climate goals show that a coordinated path is required to meet the challenges of energy supply and climate protection. It remains to be seen how these plans will be implemented in detail, but the desire for change is clearly noticeable.