In the spring of 2008 Time Magazine ran the headline “Lessons from Germany”. In the article that followed, the renowned US magazine gave detailed answers to the question: “What can Americans learn from Europe’s most populous country?” It informed its readers about how Germany saves energy, lowers carbon dioxide emissions and generates power from renewable energy sources. “Germany cut its greenhouse-gas emissions by 18% between 1990 and 2005,” the magazine writes, “while emissions in the USA rose by 16% in the same period.” Time Magazine paints a picture of a new Germany where wind farms, biogas plants and solar roofs have become a normal part of the landscape. The main point made by the article is that the German Federal Government paved the way for change early on. It introduced an eco-tax to reduce oil consumption. It built up a recycling system to conserve resources and re-use raw materials. And above all, it passed the Renewable Energy Act (EEG).
Indeed, the EEG, which came into force in 2000, is at the heart of German energy and climate policy. It encourages citizens, businesses and local authorities to generate electricity for themselves from renewable sources and to sell any excess on to the power utilities. Some people have been making a tidy profit out this scheme. And the proportion of power consumption generated by renewables has risen to 14% within a few years. The target is 25 to 30% by 2020. In the meantime, 47 countries have themselves passed legislation modelled on the German Renewable Energy Act. After all, not only the climate benefits from the programme of market incentives, but also the economy. One in three solar cells and almost half the world’s wind turbines are made in Germany. The German “greentech” industry is the technology leader. According to a recent study, by 2020 it will have the potential to take over from the successful mechanical-engineering and automotive industries as the biggest employer in Germany. “Environmental protection and jobs are not a contradiction. On the contrary, the two are mutually dependent on a global scale,” says Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s Federal Minister for the Environment. People are already talking about the “third industrial revolution”.
The idea is not as utopian as it may sound, because protecting the environment and climate is one of the greatest global challenges of the 21st century and will require enormous efforts. How can climate change be stopped? What will be our sources of energy in the future? How can an equitable and sufficient supply of water and food be assured for the world’s growing population? These are the most pressing issues of our time. Consequently, environmental protection has become an important part of German foreign policy. Diplomats speak of “foreign policy for environmental protection”, and mean a three-pronged approach consisting of “future provision, conflict prevention and active security policy”. After all, environmental issues (e.g. unfair distribution of water) can lead to considerable social and political tensions. The Federal Foreign Office is therefore promoting international environmental protection on many levels, be it in negotiations on international environmental agreements or by organizing conferences. Only this April, 150 business and political leaders from the five Central Asian countries were guests of the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin for the “Water Unites” conference. This meeting launched the “Central Asia Water Initiative”, which comprises a wide range of collaborations and support measures to counteract the negative consequences of water shortages in the region.
Energy and climate policy was at the centre of the environmental issues discussed – a field in which Germany is taking on a pioneering role with its ambitious reduction targets in the fight against climate change. Germany is already very close to delivering on the commitment it made in the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 21% by 2012. Furthermore, Germany is second only to Sweden in the 2008 global Climate Protection Index, which rates the performance of 56 countries in climate protection. In its efforts Germany applies a dual strategy of improving energy and resource efficiency and expanding the use of renewable energies and renewable primary products. The country is also taking the lead within the European Union. If other countries are prepared to follow suit, Germany has said it is prepared to aim for even higher targets than some of those specified by the EU, which envisage a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 compared to the figure for 1990, raising renewable energy’s share of the energy mix to 20%, and reducing energy consumption by 20%. On Germany’s initiative the heads of state and government of the eight leading industrial nations (G8) have agreed to halve CO2 emissions by 2050. The aim here is to limit the rise in the average global temperature to two degrees.
Germany is also intensely involved in the preparations for the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Conference. The key issue there will be reaching agreement on a new, comprehensive climate-protection regime to avoid international climate protection efforts coming to a standstill after the 2012 Kyoto Protocol runs out. The integration of economically advanced NICs (newly industrializing countries) such as China, India, South Africa, Brazil and Mexico will be high of the agenda in this context. After all, the global challenge of climate protection cannot be mastered without these partner countries.
For more information on Germany’s ideas on a sustainable climate and energy policy, see www.facts-about-germany.de
