FAIReconomics Newsletter Week 25/ 2020  

FAIReconomics Newsletter Week 25/ 2020                                       german edition

Hydrogen strategy passed: Last week the cabinet adopted the hydrogen strategy, with the aim that hydrogen produced by wind and sun should replace coal, gas and oil in the future. Germany should become „number one in the world“ in the technologies required for this, said Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU). According to the minister, the subsidies amount to a total of nine billion euros. Even though hydrogen (chemical symbol: H) is abundant in nature, it is mostly found in bound form. For use as an energy carrier, hydrogen should be emission-free and therefore be obtained from renewable energies. Altmaier predicted a „quantum leap“ in energy supply. He said that hydrogen is a „key raw material“ that can be produced without CO2 emissions and without the exploitation of raw materials. He said that the economic stimulus package decided on last week included for the first time „considerable financial means“ to promote hydrogen production and use, namely seven billion euros. A further two billion euros are to go to international partnerships. By 2030, production plants with a total capacity of up to five gigawatts are to be built, including the necessary wind turbines, and by 2040 plants of up to ten gigawatts.  Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) expects that the national hydrogen strategy will give Germany a „double boost“ – for climate protection and the sustainable recovery of the economy after the corona crisis. Green hydrogen could, for example, help to promote climate protection in the steel industry or in air traffic. afp.com , Originaldokument
Gas guzzlers are expected to pay higher taxes: From 2021 on, new cars with high fuel consumption will have to pay higher taxes. The federal cabinet has introduced a change in the law for more climate protection, which is intended to encourage citizens to buy more economical cars. However, cars already registered will not be affected. According to the plans of Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD), not much will change for typical small cars and family cars, but for large and heavy SUVs the situation will be different. Environmentalists believe that little will change in the future. berliner-zeitung.de

In 2019, nitrogen dioxide limits were exceeded in 25 cities in Germany, a significant decrease. Last year the limit was still exceeded in 57 cities. According to the Federal Environment Agency, the reasons for the decrease are local measures such as speed limits, driving bans or the use of less polluting buses, but also nationwide measures such as software updates, the renewal of the vehicle fleet or meteorological influences that influence the spread of air pollutants. umweltbundesamt.de

Corona crisis has made our lives more sustainable: Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) sees opportunities for more environmental awareness and sustainability after the pandemic. Whether home office or online commerce.  Svenja Schulze (SPD) believes that German citizens can learn a lot from this – and for the sake of the environment they can keep it. „Nobody wants life to stay the way it was during the pandemic in the long run“, but digitization at work could reduce commuting and business trips – this would also increase the quality of life. An initial interim assessment shows that where contact restrictions apply, a lot has shifted to the Internet. This has led to a reduction in traffic and an increase in energy consumption. On the other hand, fear of contagion led to an increase in car traffic instead of using buses and trains. It is still too early to say what the bottom line of the crisis months is for the environmental balance, said Schulze.  focus.de , heise.de 

Global investment in renewable energies is stagnating: Last year, 282 billion US dollars were invested in renewable energies, one percent more than in the previous year. Compared to 2017, however, this represents a decline of ten percent. The money factor does not always play a role here. At the end of 2019, for example, the cost of installing photovoltaic systems was 83 percent lower than ten years earlier. This meant that more capacity could be installed with less money. Spain, the Netherlands and Great Britain ranked among the top countries for European investments. Germany came fourth with 4.4 billion US dollars. This is a 30 percent decline on the previous year. „The fact that the investment volume in Germany (…) has fallen significantly is a clear result of a restrictive policy of the Grand Coalition,“ says Hans-Josef Fell, head of the Energy Watch Group think tan.. klimareporter.de
Requirements for the German EU Council Presidency: „Making the EU fit for the future“ is the title of the paper, thus naming the task that the many millions of members of the associations are giving the German government. A broad alliance with its umbrella organisation, the Deutscher Naturschutzring (DNR), is calling, among other things, for a fundamental reorientation of environmentally harmful agricultural policy, a genuine change in transport policy and at least compliance with the internationally agreed climate targets.. fr.de , dnr.de (original document)
Municipalities and companies must adapt more strongly to climate change: It is no longer possible to postpone expenditure on precautionary measures against climate change, because local authorities and companies are already threatened by it. Droughts require more irrigation of fields. More parks and gardens must be created to counter rising temperatures in cities, and buildings must be protected from the effects of heavy rainfall.  The urgency of the situation can be seen from the applications received by the responsible Federal Environment Ministry, which promotes precautionary projects.  spiegel.de
WEEKLY BOOKTIP:

Über Leben in planetarischen Grenzen – Plädoyer für eine nachhaltige Entwicklungspolitik.

Will the transformation to sustainability succeed? Do conflicts, disasters, climate change or pandemics promote this agenda? What room for manoeuvre does politics have in the web of conflicting interests? Development policy becomes the focus of such questions. Originally an epitome of Western thinking on superiority, it wants to be more than „help for the underdeveloped“ in the future: Policy for sustainable development worldwide.  The essay examines its competence for transformation, looks at the long history of criticism of development policy and questions what seems to be unquestionably valid so far. This book is a knowledgeable, far-sighted and surprisingly humorous plea for a new way of thinking and acting, for the profound cultural change we need now. oekom.de

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Lithium-ion accumulators: Recycling will be an enormous challenge. spektrum.de
Corona Effect: Recent measurements showed that the Corona Effelt fizzles out. faz.net
Left-turning wind turbines: Deliver 23 percent more energy. tagsspiegel.de
Criticism: Draft legislation against housing shortage is heavily criticised. afp.com
Decline: Subsidies for the construction of social housing decline. haufe.de
NorthStream 2: 150 kilometres still missing. wiwo.de
Lithium production: Could soon be produced in Germany. welt.de

The seventeen goals magazine tells inspiring stories about how people move the world and shows how everyone can make a contribution to achieving sustainability goals.

Plastic Bank promotes recycling in developing countries

The Plastic Bank of founder David Katz gives poor people a new perspective: they contribute to the fact that less plastic ends up in the sea. 17goalsmagazin.de

MOBILITY:
Clear Lacquer against viruses in trams: People avoid public transport for fear of infection with the COVID-19 virus. Essen’s Ruhrbahn has applied a special varnish to the grab handles in trams and buses. When light hits the paint, the viruses are supposed to be destroyed automatically. The company wants to give its customers a feeling of security in this way. tagesschau.de.
Daimler must call-back cars:  The Federal Motor Transport Authority has extended an already existing recall: Daimler must recall 170,000 more cars. Older models of the Mercedes-Benz A-, B-, C-, E- and S-Class are affected. rnd.de
The real winners electric mobility: Hybrid cars are not necessarily what you would call purely electric cars, so the winners of the state subsidies will mainly be models from abroad. German suppliers Because manufacturers like Renault and Nissan are currently starting a price war with the German manufacturers will not be able to keep up: Nissan, for example, is currently waiving VAT for its customers, while Renault is increasing its electric bonus so much that the Zoe with a rented battery will be available for under 12,000 euros in the future. In any case, foreign manufacturers are already the first port of call for German car customers when it comes to battery power. The sales share of purely electric vehicles in 2020 was 15.1 percent for Renault, 8.7 percent for Nissan and 7.0 percent for Hyundai.  welt.de

LAST WEEK IN THE BUNDESTAG:
Coal compromise and inland waterway transport: „Coal transport in inland waterway transport and the consequences of the coal compromise“ is the title of a minor question by the FDP parliamentary group (19/19474). The expected slump in coal transport will have a lasting negative impact on inland waterway transport, write the MEPs in the question. Among other things, they want to know from the Federal Government whether inland waterway transport will be taken into account in the support programmes with a special focus on suppliers to the coal industry. The Liberals are also interested in what alternatives the Federal Government believes there are for inland navigation to transporting coal.
Climate protection measures in local public transport: The FDP parliamentary group is interested in the promotion of municipal climate protection measures in local public transport (ÖPNV). In a minor question (19/19479), the Liberals ask the Federal Government, among other things, how the government intends to ensure „that the Länder do not, in view of the planned extension of the catalogue of subsidies under the amendment to the Municipal Transport Financing Act (GVFG) and the significant increase in financial subsidies, withdraw from their responsibility, because the Federal Government can now finance to a large extent also those projects which previously could be financed by the Länder alone“.

TAKEN LITERALLY

„If we had a supply chain law, for example, then a company that sells coffee here would actually have to analyze, is there a risk of children working in this supply chain from which I get my coffee. So they would have to take action themselves, and if they actually see such a risk or perhaps even find children in advance, they would have to take action. They have to make the whole thing transparent and also report it.“

Barbara Küppers from the children’s charity Terre des Hommes, (company) had to make a risk analysis and then take appropriate measures – appropriate is an important word in this law – and they had to make it transparent and document that this is comprehensible. This would, so to speak, reverse the burden of proof. It was very controversial whether this law would contain actual liability. Theoretically, this would mean that a girl from Ethiopia could at some point sue for compensation. deutschlandfunk.de

A bicycle tyre whose abrasion ends up in the environment is an example of a biological cycle of a product that is consumed. According to Cradle to Cradle, a bicycle tyre must be designed so that its material is biodegradable and can become a nutrient for something else. On the other hand, in the case of a product that is used and not consumed, it is again important that all materials can be separated and reused – that is the technical cycle. You have to document exactly where you use which material. This is how products can become material banks, raw materials.

Nora Griefahn, head of the NGO Cradle to Cradle, we absolutely need large companies. Otherwise, not much will change. Doing Cradle to Cradle right is not easy. You have to manufacture a product that has good water management, fulfils social conditions and goes back into the cycle. This would not work as greenwashing. What you can chalk up to C&A is that they don’t produce the rest of it this way. But they have to start somewhere. enorm-magazin.de

MORE KNOWLEDGE

How Instagram destroys landscapes: Again and again Instagramer post photos of natural landscapes on their accounts. Like Yvonne Pferrer, for example, lying in a bikini on a mountain ledge filled with water. „Natural Pool“ is the title of the picture. The photo not only received 80,000 Likes, but there is a flip side to the coin. Nature must increasingly be protected from the media attention of people. Last year, for example, a location shown in a video clip of Justin Bieber had to be closed in Iceland because of the huge rush. bento.de
Work of the future: Almost all past industrialization steps were solved by reducing the standard working hours and by a new distribution of work and income. Through digitalisation we will need this means to realise this for the future. It makes no difference whether these means are called unemployment benefits, short-time work or basic income. One thing will not happen: The working time lost to machines will never return. derstandard.at
Early green can intensify drought: „Winter has passed I see the meien shine“, says an old German folk song. But plants and trees are sprouting their flowers and leaves earlier and earlier. Doc the early green can have negative consequences.  A lot of water is withdrawn from the soil and it is possible that this will cause a drought later in the summer.n-tv.de
Internet: The EU wants a climate neutral internet. heise.de  
Namibia: Is the apology for the genocide coming? dw.com
Rainforest: Brazil is cutting down more rainforest while the world looks away. welt.de
Great Barrier Reef: Recovery may be impossible. deutschlandfunk.de
THE LAST:
Spider genus named after environmental activist: „Thunberga greta“ means a species of risen spider. The researcher who discovered this species wanted to draw attention to climate change. Five species of giant crab spiders native to Madagascar are now grouped together under the name Thunberga. Giant crab spiders are known as active hunting spiders that do not build any nets. zeit.de
German version
Photo credits: All pictures unless otherwise stated. www.pixabay.com