German energy and climate regulation should not exceed EU requirements – business
Clean Energy Wire
Germany should implement future EU energy and climate rules without exceeding the required ambition and scale back existing measures to align strictly with EU requirements, said a report commissioned by the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK). This would reduce bureaucracy, complexity and disadvantages for Germany as a business location, the report said.
"We must move away from state micromanagement towards strategic guidelines and lean implementation," said DIHK deputy managing director Achim Dercks. This was the only way to achieve climate neutrality "without sacrificing prosperity and competitiveness," he said.
Germany introduced its target to become climate neutral by 2045, five years earlier than the European Union, following a landmark court ruling. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emphasises that current global climate action ambition is insufficient to limit global temperatures to well below 2°C, and that doing so runs a greater risk of reaching so-called tipping points.
The DIHK report carried out by the organisation Global Energy Solutions criticised shortcomings of the energy transition in Germany, blaming the regulatory framework. “There are considerable problems with national implementation due to additional and overlapping regulations, the federal structure, the departmental logic of the federal government, approval processes and a fragmented funding landscape,” it said, adding that this leads to higher costs for companies, it said.
The report also proposed postponing Germany’s 2045 climate neutrality target and aligning it with the 2050 target of the European Union, arguing the earlier national target would lead to significant extra costs.
It also proposed reviving the country’s “climate cabinet” to streamline and coordinate government action, including on EU regulatory proposals. In 2019, former chancellor Angela Merkel set up the climate cabinet as a group of ministers with responsibilities in key climate policy fields to decide on necessary legislation to reach the country’s 2030 climate targets. The DIHK report now proposed extending the body’s remit to energy policy.
The DIHK has called for a rethink of national climate policy, warning that the current approach is overburdening companies in the face of growing competitive pressure. The organisation called for replacing strict annual climate targets with a multi-year emissions budget approach, and aligning German and European emission reduction targets with the climate action efforts of global competitors.
