German companies split on energy transition impact, want infrastructure priority – survey

German companies have a mixed assessment of the impact of the energy transition on their business, a survey by the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) has shown. 

Four in ten companies (40%) view the impact of the energy transition on their own competitiveness as negative, while 24 percent take a positive view, said the DIHK. Just over a third of companies express a neutral or undecided view. The survey polled 3,100 companies from the service sector (56%), industry (23%), trade (14%) and the construction sector (6%). 

Businesses in the country’s north see the energy transition as having a predominantly positive impact on their competitiveness, while the assessment in the rest of the country is more negative, the survey showed. 

“In the north, renewable energy has now become an important economic factor and business area for many companies,” said the DIHK. In the industrialised regions of western and southern Germany, on the other hand, the challenges of the transition and the rising costs of energy supply are more prominent, it added.

Renewables supply is seen as an important location advantage for industry, making Germany’s windy north increasingly interesting for energy-intensive businesses in particular. Wind power is Germany's most important renewable electricity source, and a majority of the capacity is located in the north. Wind is projected to become the backbone of the country's entire energy system in its shift away from fossil fuels.

Almost 79 percent of companies agreed fully or to some extent that, in order to ensure competitiveness and decarbonisation, greater priority and reliability are needed in the expansion of energy infrastructure. Around a third of companies said that high electricity or gas costs caused them to hold up investments in their core business.