The Energiewende: Making it happen on the autobahn

Transport is one of the most critical sectors for climate policy. Industry, private households and the energy sector have all significantly reduced their climate impact over the past decades. Yet progress on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from cars, trucks, ships and planes has been slow. Developments in efficiency and engine technology have been eaten up by ever increasing mileage, freight volumes and growing international trade.

Experts are particularly worried about current growth rates in freight transport: Rapidly increasing freight volumes and an ever greater share of goods transported by trucks and planes – rather than by rail and sea – mean that with today’s trends and today’s technology, pollution and emissions are set to grow even further.

What really sets the transport sector apart, however, is the lack of a clear policy framework for cleaner transport and lower emissions. The Energiewende sets concrete targets for the power sector, energy efficiency and renewables. But the picture is very different in the transport sector.

Agreat diversity of technological options comes with a lack of clarity over which decarbonisation pathway to pursue. At present, no single drive technology or alternative fuel has emerged as clear frontrunner for decarbonising road freight transport. And while society has been pushing for a nuclear phase-out and renewables for decades, no societal consensus has yet emerged concerning the future of transport and mobility in a post-Paris world.

The programme: experts, analysis, onsite visits

•  Against this background, our media workshop will take a deep dive into freight transport, exploring Germany’s political and technical options for reducing carbon emissions from transportation
• At meetings with policy analysts and stakeholders from the truck industry, logistics, transport providers and NGOs, we will ask what kind of policy and regulatory framework the transport sector needs on its road to decarbonisation
• Onsite visits will allow participants to follow the route of goods along the supply chain from global shipping to inner-city delivery