Climate activist takes Laschet to task: After the election of Arnim Laschet as CDU chairman, good advice and criticism from political friends and opponents are not long in coming. While the defeated candidate Friedrich Merz already claimed the Ministry of Economics for himself in the current coalition, Luisa Neubauer from Fridays for Future also spoke out: „Continuing the way we are does not work in the climate crisis,“ said Neubauer. In the face of accelerating global warming, the challenges should not be glorified as a „modernization project,“ she said. „Like the other decision-makers, Laschet must acknowledge that he must act now to prevent crisis situations on a whole new scale in the medium term.“ welt.de , klimareporter.de
Climate measures in the Corona package: whether outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump knew what he was signing is questionable. The president put his signature on a budget bill that represents a radical departure from Trump’s climate policy. 35 billion dollars has been approved for renewable energy development. It also included a phased reduction of HFCs by 85 percent over the next 15 years. The president-elect, Joe Biden, has promised to invest two trillion dollars in electricity from clean energies after he takes office next week. deutschlandfunk.de
25 euros per ton of CO2, that’s the price at which national emissions trading started in Germany on Jan. 1, 2021. For consumers, this means about 7 cents more per liter of gasoline, 8 cents more per liter of diesel, 8 cents more per liter of heating oil and 0.6 cents more per kilowatt hour of natural gas (each including VAT). The fixed price for allowances will gradually increase to 55 euros by 2025. From 2026, the CO2 price will be determined by auctioning, with a price corridor of 55 to 65 euros specified for 2026.umweltbundesamt.de
Doubts about implementation of Energy Industry Act in Germany: The Advocate General of the European Court of Justice doubts whether the Federal Republic of Germany has complied with the implementation of the Energy Industry Act. The insufficient implementation could lead to proceedings being initiated against Germany at the European Court of Justice. The accusations are not new. As early as 2015, the EU Commission, which monitors compliance with EU law, initiated infringement proceedings against Germany and called for changes. spiegel.de
Chief talks bring no movement: Supply chain law enters another round. German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) were unable to bring any movement to the dispute over a supply chain law last Wednesday. The issue of companies‘ civil liability is at the center of the dispute. Labor Minister Hubertus Heil and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz want to encourage companies to improve ecological and social conditions in foreign factories by paying damages. Economics Minister Peter Altmaier, on the other hand, wants to keep the burdens on business low. evangelisch.de, taz.de
Climate targets will be missed: Even if all self-imposed targets were currently met, the global community will miss its climate targets. That’s the conclusion of a new UN report that puts more pressure onA new UN report puts pressure on and names necessary concepts. Crucial to this: the international community. In developing countries alone, the UN Environment Program estimates the need for money is $70 billion a year. Because warming is continuing, it is becoming more and more expensive. deutschlandfunk.de
Despite falling prices, electricity has never been so expensive: Wholesale electricity prices are also falling because of the pandemic. But German consumers have little to gain from falling tariffs. Electricity prices have risen to a peak. One reason is the green electricity effect. Electricity prices in the basic tariff have climbed to a new historical record. 33.77 cents costs the kilowatt hour in the basis tariff according to different comparison portals and is thus as expensive as never. . welt.de
BOOKTIP OF THE WEEK:
Solidarität in Zeiten von Corona und darüber hinaus – A Plea for Sustainable Poverty Reduction.This book points far beyond the Corona crisis – although or precisely because we are currently still living in the midst of an exceptional situation that affects us all. As before, our previous everyday routines and certainties have been called into question, even turned upside down, by the pandemic. The full braking by the lockdown made us pause of necessity and ask: Do we really want to go on living as before? In the illustrated texts by authors such as Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Stephan Hebel, Christoph Butterwegge and others, the manifold effects of the crisis appear kaleidoscopically – informing and moving. In many respects, this multifaceted contemporary document opens up new ways of looking at things and is intended as a plea for a sustainable fight against poverty – with the goal of a more solidary, fairer and better world for all of us. oekom.de
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EEG subsidies: Challenge for solar roof operators who fall out of subsidies. br.de
Equinor: Increased focus on sustainability. handelsblatt.com
Fridays for Future: Protests against pipeline foundation in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. arte.tv
Norway: Tripling CO2 levy by 2030. klimareporter.de
Joining: Federal Republic joins Alliance for the Protection of Land and Seas. . faz.net
The seventeeen goals Magazin presents inspiring stories about how people are moving the world and shows how everyone can make a contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
With the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the global community is addressing the most pressing challenges of our time together. Why it is worthwhile for companies to address the goals and what the opportunities are. 17goalsmagazin.de
MOBILITY:
Gasoline and diesel were replaced: the currently dominant fuels gasoline and diesel are taking a back seat and making way for alternative drives. The two dominant concepts here are the battery and the fuel cell, with various application scenarios in the drive portfolio of the future. This is the result of a meta-study conducted by VDEm, which examines the question of technical feasibility, societal behavior, (environmental) political requirements and economic expenditure for the mobility of tomorrow. Five logistics scenarios describe different, sometimes competing distribution and delivery options in urban areas. vde.com
Electric cars: 2020 was a successful year for electric mobility. This trend will continue: an overview of the new releases in 2021. The following e-cars will be on the market in 2021. golem.de
Mobility in the pandemic: How the virus can spread in public transport, but also in airplanes. tagesspiegel.de
Free Now: Wants to switch completely to e-mobility by 2030. t3n.de
Cable vehicles: Ministry commissions study for mobility of the future. stuttgarter-zeitung.de
AppleCar: May redefine mobility. stern.de
Saudi Arabia: City of millions planned without cars. spiegel.de
EU joint project: Research on cobalt-free batteries. energate-messenger.de
Sustainable air traffic: It won’t work without CCS. fair-economics.de
LAST WEEK IN THE BUNDESTAG
Negotiations on biodiversity framework delayed: According to the German government, concrete negotiations on the target formulations for the new global framework for biodiversity for the period after 2020 have not yet begun. Due to pandemic-related postponements, the 15th Conference of the Parties, at which the new biodiversity framework is to be adopted, will not take place until the fall of 2021 at the earliest in Kunming (China), it writes in an answer (19/25617) to a minor question (19/24895) from the Die Linke parliamentary group. A coordinated position of the German government on the design of the global biodiversity framework is also not yet available due to the early stage of negotiations.
Impact of EU climate targets on coal-fired power generation: The German government currently sees no reason to adjust the Coal-Fired Power Generation Termination Act passed by the Bundestag on July 3, 2020, with a view to accelerating the phase-out of coal. This emerges from the answer (19/25614) to a small question (19/25015) from the left-wing parliamentary group, which inquired about the effects of the stricter EU climate target on coal-fired power generation. Discussions about possible changes to the European regulatory framework were ongoing, the German government said, explaining its assessment. For this reason, there is still no legal basis for more ambitious European greenhouse gas reduction targets. Irrespective of this, the coal-fired power plant phase-out law in its current form is fundamentally compatible with a changed market environment for conventional power plants. It is therefore perfectly possible for operators to shut down their power plants earlier than provided for in the Act for reasons of economic viability. The effects of an earlier coal phase-out on structural change in Germany’s coal regions are difficult to quantify because of the very complex interactions, the German government writes further. The federal and state governments would follow this process closely.
Spread of wolves: In the 2019/2020 monitoring year, 128 wolf packs, 35 wolf pairs and ten individual wolves were detected in Germany. Nine years earlier, there had been only seven packs, seven pairs and six individuals. This communicates the federal government in its response (19/25695) to a small question (19/24771) of the FDP parliamentary group. In the calendar year 2019, according to the data, 2,476 sheep, 83 goats, 127 cattle and 194 pieces of fenced game were injured or killed by wolves. According to the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive (Habitats Directive), the wolf is a species of Community interest that requires strict protection, the federal government further writes. An adjustment of the protection status in dependence on the population development is in principle not intended in the FFH guideline.
Environment Committee against geological storage of CO2: The Committee for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety has spoken out against a motion by the FDP parliamentary group (19/25295) that seeks to exploit the possibilities of geological CO2 storage. Only the FDP parliamentary group voted in favor of the motion entitled „55+5 – Enabling an ambitious climate target with negative emission technologies“. All the other parliamentary groups rejected it. In their motion, the Liberals call on the German government to work to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and then store it safely in geological form. In this way, according to the proposers, it may be possible to activate an additional CO2 savings potential of five percent compared to 1990 levels. The 55 percent target agreed by EU heads of state and government in December 2020 could thus become a 60 percent target. The main goal must be to reduce CO2 emissions, said a representative of the FDP parliamentary group at the committee meeting. In addition, however, technologies that could advance negative emissions would also have to be promoted. However, safety must be guaranteed. Norway has shown that this is possible with the storage of CO2 under the seabed. bundestag.de
Experts differ on limits for large power plants: The ordinance revising the Ordinance on Large Combustion, Gas Turbine and Combustion Engine Plants and amending the Ordinance on the Incineration and Co-incineration of Waste has received mixed reviews from experts. At a public hearing in the Committee on the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety on Wednesday, January 13, 2021, individual experts called for a tightening of the limits, while others warned against this step. The hearing, chaired by committee chairwoman Sylvia Kotting-Uhl (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen), also criticized the short transition period. bundestag.de
TAKEN LITERALLY
„The home office makes it easier to balance (family and work), yes. But it’s also hailed as something that supposedly helps women with their careers. And I can’t understand that at all. It will only increase the gender gap, or at least slow down change. After all, women have only just arrived in public life, but are thus deprived of visibility again. From the home office, a woman will certainly not reach a leadership position.“Jutta Allmendinger, president of the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB), had been seen that the so-called mental load, i.e. the psychological stress, of women increased extremely during the lockdown. For men, on the other hand, it was more or less unchanged. In addition, women were slower to return to the labor market after the lockdown. And now, again, it is women who are reducing their hours much more. Although we have had time to prepare, she does not see that we have taken any countermeasures. rnd.de
AFRICA
Uganda: Uganda’s President Museveni was once considered the representative of a new promising generation of African politicians. But after decades in office, he too is now suppressing opposition led by music star Bobi Wine – and hopes for a new beginning. Museveni, 76, is likely to be confirmed in office once under highly controversial circumstances. The electoral commission said that after almost every other voting station had been counted, 63 percent voted for the incumbent, and only 28 percent for his young challenger Bobi Wine. welt.de
Central African Republic: Rebels in the Central African Republic have attacked the capital Bangui. Fighting killed 30 attackers and arrested five Wednesday night, according to a government statement on Facebook. In December, several militias had joined forces to form the CPC alliance, which since then has repeatedly engaged in heavy fighting with the Central African Army and international troops. welt-sichten.org
Biodiversity Plan for Africa: The French Development Agency (AFD) is launching a new plan to promote biodiversity with the goal of investing 1 billion euros by 2025. Africa will be one of the main beneficiaries of this funding. africa21.africa
Great Green Wall: The idea is not entirely new. The „Great Green Wall“ in the Sahel is not only intended to contain the Sahara. The area is particularly affected by global warming: By 2100, it will be three to six degrees warmer there. A forest 15 kilometers wide and 8,000 kilometers long from the west to the east coast of Africa is intended to prevent this. Meanwhile, France’s President Macron has pledged his country’s financial support for the „Green Wall“ project in Africa. The money is to be used to combat the effects of climate change. The talk is of 10 billion euros. klimareporter.de , dw.com
Corona accelerates tech innovations in Africa: contact-tracking apps, medical diagnostic tools or smart covid test detection: In many African countries, the pandemic has accelerated technical innovations. This is also due to the young population. spiegel.de
Vaccinations falter in Africa: It will take time for the Corona vaccines to reach poorer countries. It could take a particularly long time in Africa. Although almost the whole world has joined forces to make the Corona vaccines accessible everywhere. n-tv.de
Cooperation with Zambia and DR Congo: In its answers (19/25637, 19/25657) to two small questions (19/25153, 19/25239) from the AfD parliamentary group, the German government reports on government development cooperation measures in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The food situation is serious in both countries, and the high population growth is increasing the pressure on existing water resources, it says. Moreover, in Zambia only about 31 percent of the population is connected to the power grid, and in rural areas only about four percent. In the Republic of Congo, only about 17 percent of the population has access to electricity. The country therefore has the third largest population in the world without access to electricity.
MORE KNOWLEDGE:
Baby sharks are shrinking due to climate change: They are actually considered enormously resilient. But unchecked climate change would even put epaulette sharks in distress. Studies have shown that epaulette sharks hatch 24 days earlier from their eggs, making them significantly smaller and giving them poorer chances of survival. At the same time, this shark species is considered a model animal for many other species. spektrum.de
Insect mass extinction: About one million people lived on Earth 10,000 years ago. Today there are 7.8 billion. Actually, it is only logical that this explosive growth has consequences for other living creatures. Hardly anyone still disputes that a gigantic mass extinction is currently underway in the world. Whether insects are more affected by this than other animals is unclear. 56 scientists from all over the world have now summarized what is known so far about the decline of insects – and what is not. sueddeutsche.de
Sea grass can take plastic waste out of the sea: At least a little. A research team determined that plastic waste collects in seagrass meadows. From the remains of seagrass and the plastic, brown balls of fibers form in the sea. These so-called Neptune balls are then washed up on beaches. Neptune balls in the Mediterranean Sea could collect up to 860 million plastic particles a year from seawater. nature.com
Lithuania: EU sanctions of several hundred million euros loom for failure to comply with EU wastewater treatment directives. freitag.de
Environmental apps: Our impact on the environment is often hard to see. Some apps allow us to reduce our carbon footprint. futurezone.at
Overtourism: The Corona crisis gave Venice a break, but at the same time made it painfully aware of its own dependence on tourism. bluewin.ch
Organic market: continues to grow even in the pandemic.schwarzwaelder-bote.de
LAST WORDS:
Less Fake News on the Net: After Twitter and Facebook blocked various accounts in social media for the still President Donals Trump, debates about alleged election fraud have largely come to a standstill. The number of discussions about alleged election fraud plummeted in several channels as soon as Trump was no longer active there. That’s according to a study by San Francisco-based research firm Zignal Labs. washingtonpost.com
All images unless otherwise noted: pixabay.com
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