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Briefing
Thursday, 14 Sep 2023
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News, studies and reports on the German energy transition. For the very latest, follow us on Twitter
@cleanenergywire, or sign up to our weekly newsletter for a round-up of the top energy transition news and analysis from Germany and beyond, as well as the latest from the CLEW Journalism Network.
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Clean Energy Wire
The European Union should set up a joint transport infrastructure and storage facilities for CO2, said the German Green Party in its
draft programme for the EU elections on 6-9 June 2024. The Greens, a party traditionally sceptical towards carbon capture and storage (CCS) or use (CCU), said that there will be unavoidable carbon emissions in certain
sectors such as cement, which should in the future be captured during the production process. Where necessary, such technologies should receive support, writes the party. "We want to create a uniform regulatory framework for this throughout Europe and develop an integrated European infrastructure - including joint European CO2 storage facilities," says the draft. In addition, the Greens aim to strengthen ways to take carbon out of the atmosphere. These include natural sinks such as forests or peatland, but also technologies like direct air capture. "The EU – like Germany – needs clear targets for achieving negative emissions," says the draft.
Years of protest against industry plans to use CCS as a lifeline for coal power made the technology a no-go issue for German politicians. Yet the country's target of climate neutrality by
2045 reopened a debate on the issue of combatting unavoidable CO2 emissions, for example in cement production. Parties, including the Greens, are realigning their official stance, and the government coalition wants to agree on a carbon management strategy before the end of the year to define CCS guidelines.
The Greens also call on member state governments to introduce a per capita payment to redistribute emissions trading revenues to citizens to ensure a socially just transition. The party proposes to set up a "European programme to decarbonise industry", which uses so-called "carbon contracts for difference" (CCfDs) to support companies that invest in cleaner technologies.
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Further background on CLEW
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Clean Energy Wire
Germany plans to use green hydrogen (H2) to decarbonise its industry, but the country faces high costs and technical hurdles when importing of hydrogen-based fuels via ships, according to a report by think tank Agora Energiewende and Hamburg University of Technology. The import of hydrogen made from renewables via pipeline from
neighbouring regions represents the cheapest option at less than 1 euro per kilogram of H2 (€/kg H2), says the report. Maritime imports of derivates made with so-called ‘green hydrogen’ – such as ammonia or synthetic methane, for which CO2 is added to the hydrogen – come at a higher price of 2-5 €/kg H2. However, these fuels could also be burned directly, cutting out the need to extract the hydrogen again in Germany.
The report shows that the production of synthetic methane, ideally using CO2 captured directly from the air, brings a set of hurdles to overcome. For example, many of the technologies are not mature yet and will take a long time to implement, while other hydrogen import options could turn out to be much cheaper. There are also regulatory uncertainties regarding the global market of CO2, says the report.
Germany has decided that import infrastructure for liquefied natural gas (LNG), which companies have been setting up in reaction to the halt of pipeline gas from Russia, should be "hydrogen-ready". Projects like that of Tree Energy Solutions (TES)bet on synthetic methane flowing through its pipes at some point, because it means that Germany could continue to use the current natural gas infrastructure. In the report, Agora Energiewende warns that this approach could "slow down the conversion of methane grids to hydrogen."
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Further background on CLEW
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BR
The record rainfalls triggering deadly floods in Libya and Greece dwarf the precipitation that caused Germany’s 2021 flood catastrophe, and are a grim reminder of the need to act on and adapt to climate change, said German climate researcher Mojib Latif in an interview with public broadcaster BR. “In the past week, we’ve measured
rainfall volumes never seen before in Europe,” Latif said. “At times, this has been multiple times the volume we’ve seen in the Ahr Valley flood,” the researcher said, pointing to Germany’s worst floods catastrophe in decades that killed 135 people in the region and dozens more across Europe in 2021. The heavy rains that fell “in a very, very short time” in the Mediterranean had become “a sort of Medicane” that can be attributed to climate change, the researcher from the GEOMAR marine research institute stressed. Latif said Europe has been complacent with respect to the damages expected from global warming for too long and needed to adapt quickly. “I think this is beginning to change now,” he added. “We’re starting to see that climate change not only means higher temperatures, but especially more extreme weather, more potential for damage and above all a gigantic challenge for people’s health.”
The storm that hit several countries in the Eastern Mediterranean region had triggered unprecedented floods in northern Greece and killed more than 5,000 people in Libya alone. The damages from torrential rains and floods, but also from forest fires, droughts, and storms have risen across Europe in the past years, leading the EU to call for a revision of disaster response funding that is starting to become
overstretched by the number of incidents occurring in a short span of time. European countries are struggling to adapt to the fast-mounting challenges of a heating climate and are seeking strategies that allow to better cope with the effects natural disasters have on health, food production and economic stability.
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Further background on CLEW
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Clean Energy Wire
Colombia has become an important supplier of hard coal to Germany, substituting for Russia, the government has said in an answer to a parliamentary inquiry by the Left Party. Between January and May, the South American country’s share in imports rose to 15.6 percent, making it one of the most important suppliers together with the U.S. and South Africa. In total, Germany
imported some 2.6 million tonnes of coal from Colombia in the first five months of 2023. Already in 2022, imports had tripled compared to the previous year, reaching around 5.7 million tonnes. Imports from Russia previously accounted for about half of hard coal supplies to the country but were abruptly ended due to sanctions imposed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Left Party criticised imports from Colombia on grounds of allegations against operators of the El Cerrejon mine. This mine that is key to the country’s hard coal exports and is owned by Swiss-based Glencore has been accused of severe environmental damage and human rights violations, said the Left Party.
Amid the war in Ukraine, Germany re-started some of its old coal-fired power plants to maintain supply security after the loss of Russian fossil fuel imports, particularly gas. The country is still
heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels, and
ceased mining its own hard coal in 2018. Offically, the country aims to exit coal by 2038 at the latest, although the current government has said it aims to already do so by 2030.
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Further background on CLEW
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European Commission
approves €1.7 billion German state aid scheme to support rail freight transport operators providing single and group wagon transport
The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €1.7 billion German scheme to support rail freight operators in single and group wagon transport.
FT:
European utilities cut renewable targets as high costs and low power prices bite
A number of major European power companies have scaled back or are reviewing their targets to develop renewable energy because of high costs and low electricity prices, in a sign of the difficulties of transitioning away from fossil fuels. The picture is not universal: Germany’s RWE significantly increased its renewables target in November last year, from 50GW by 2030 to 65GW.
FT:
How the hydrogen hype fizzled out
Once viewed as a superfuel that could decarbonise large chunks of the economy, the likely uses of hydrogen are shrinking dramatically.
Carbon Brief:
Experts – What are the biggest geopolitical risks to climate action in 2024?
Carbon Brief has asked a range of scientists, policy experts and campaigners from around the world what they think the biggest geopolitical risks to climate action will be in 2024.
The Guardian:
Top oil firms’ climate pledges failing on almost every metric, report finds
Oil Change International says plans do not stand up to scrutiny and describes US fossil-fuel corporations as ‘the worst of the worst’.
Euractiv:
Europe’s public EV infrastructure needs a serious push – guest commentary
EU countries are falling short regarding the need to build out public charging points, with only 150,000 installed last year, and a serious push is needed, writes Sigrid de Vries, director general of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), in a guest commentary.
Euronews:
France, Germany, Italy seek private input for €2.5bn critical mineral investment
The Raw Materials Funds announced by France, Germany and Italy will be operational before the summer break.
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