TO THE GERMAN EDITION
Parties unable to implement climate protection targets: The German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) has scrutinized the programs of the parties represented in the Bundestag and comes to the conclusion that none of the parties represented in the Bundestag will achieve the legally defined German climate protection targets with their policies. According to the study, the Greens come closest to achieving the targets, while the FDP brings up the rear and the CDU/CSU and SPD are on a par. However, both parties have different priorities. Incidentally, the Left Party is in second place, directly behind the Greens. The parties‘ election programs were examined to determine whether their climate policy measures would enable them to achieve the target set in the Climate Protection Act of reducing greenhouse gases by 65 percent compared to 1990 levels by 2030. The AfD was not evaluated by the researchers because the party denies man-made climate change and does not aim for a climate policy. tagesschau.de , tagesspiegel.de
In the final spurt, coalition quarrel over the forest concept: The federal elections are not far away, and shortly before the end of the legislative period, CDU Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner presented a concept for climate-resistant forests, but without involving the SPD-led Environment Ministry. Svenja Schulze (SPD) was not amused by this. She accused Klöckner of violating the coalition agreement, which provides for a „joint forest strategy“. In terms of content, Schulze emphasized, „Forests are more than wood factories; they play a crucial role in climate protection and the preservation of biodiversity.“ The answer promptly came from Agriculture Minister Klöckner: she heads the „ministry in charge“ in this matter. In addition, it had not gone faster because the EU had been late with its plans for the forest. Before the elections, however, she wanted to create a „basis“ for the next government. taz.de
3,000 dollars is the climate damage caused by a single long-haul flight from London to New York and back.
The global community has to bear the costs caused by the climate crisis. According to one study, the price tag is up to six times higher than previously thought. European and U.S. researchers have calculated that global gross domestic product will fall by 37 percent within the century – due to climate change. The CO₂ damage for a single long-haul flight is put at more than $3,000. This would be a multiple of the price per ton in EU emissions trading, currently around 60 euros. spiegel.de
Damage from extreme weather higher than assumed: The consequences of extreme weather events affect national economies more than previously thought. The CO2 price would have to be many times higher…. „Most models focus only on short-term damages,“ write the authors of a new study. These would reduce GDP by six percent by 2100, according to the study. However, they say, there is „growing evidence that extremes such as droughts, fires, heat waves and storms and their effects on health, savings and labor productivity cause long-term economic damage.“ According to the authors, the calculations still contain „considerable uncertainty.“ Among other things, it is still unclear to what extent societies will be able to adapt to climate impacts. klimareporter.de
Still too much oil and coal: More than four-fifths of the world’s energy needs are still met by fossil fuels, researchers at University College London have found. This contradicts the finding that – in order to achieve the two-degree target – one-third of oil reserves, half of gas reserves and over 80 percent of coal reserves should remain in the ground by 2050. The researchers have now calculated in new models that, for example, an additional 25 percent of oil reserves would have to remain in the ground. standard.at
Biden believes climate change poses danger to U.S.: U.S. President Biden believes climate change poses danger to the country and the world. During a visit to the New York borough of Queens – with the horrendous damage caused by hurricane „Ida“ and the forest fires in the western United States in mind – he declared that the rapidly progressing changes in the climate correspond to „red alert. This is not an exaggeration, but a fact, said the U.S. President. It must be prevented from getting any worse, he said. Against this background, renewables will receive more attention in the USA. For example, according to a government study, the country could meet about 40 percent of its electricity needs with solar power by 2035. By 2050, the share in the electricity mix, which was recently only three percent, could grow to 45 percent. Massive investments in the expansion of solar energy are necessary. „The study shows that solar energy – our cheapest and fastest-growing source of clean energy – could produce enough electricity to power every home in the U.S. by 2035, employing up to 1.5 million people,“ said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. deutschlandfunk.de, tagesspiegel.de (energy demand)
Good food prolongs life: Researchers at the University of Michigan have published a nutrition index to help people eat more healthily and in a more environmentally friendly way. For this purpose, more than 5,800 foods were examined with regard to their health effects on the human body and the ecological consequences of their production. Replacing just ten percent of daily calorie intake from detrimental products with positively rated foods could reduce the carbon footprint of the diet by a third – and give people 48 minutes of life per day. businessinsider.de
BOOK TIP OF THE WEEK:
Es gibt kein Grundrecht auf unbegrenztes Eigentum – Anregung zur Einführung eines Existenzmaximums
Climate change, Corona debt and growing social inequality are already threatening social peace, democracy and the rule of law – and, moreover, the livelihoods of future generations. An effective policy response is urgently needed. The concept of a lifetime income cap is new and unusual because it links a maximum subsistence level, to be decided democratically, to the naturally limited lifetime of citizens. It thus differs from other proposals such as capped monthly or annual salaries for top earners, limited executive bonuses, or higher inheritance or wealth taxes. The concept starts at the root cause of the growth constraint: the surplus money of the wealthy, the „free capital,“ which is supposed to increase steadily through capital investment and investment. The aim of the concept is to reduce this „free capital“ and thereby curb the growth dynamic and its negative consequences. The concept is constitutional, does not violate the right to property and accepts social inequality up to this upper limit. oekom.de
PODCAST OF THE WEEK:
It feels like everyone is talking about diversity: companies, banks, soccer – not just political groups. Karen Schönwälder investigates how far acceptance in society really goes and thus straightens out a skewed picture. spektrum.de
CDU Wirtschaftsrat (Economic Council): Demands ban on environmental protection lawsuits.spiegel.de
Expiring subsidies: In Brandenburg alone, 400 wind turbines will be taken off the grid. welt.de
Chip shortage: Slows down solar industry. handelsblatt.com
Energy transition: High costs on the way to climate neutrality. fair-economics.de
Family entrepreneurs: Reject climate policy of the Greens. handelsblatt.com
CO2: World’s largest storage facility goes into operation on Iceland. spiegel.de
Berlin: Thousands demonstrate against rising rents. faz.net
MOBILITY:
Demonstration against the IAA: Thousands of people demonstrated in Munich against the IAA Mobility car show. The organisers expected 25,000 participants in a demonstration march and a cycling star ride. tz.de
ÖPNV: Nowhere are there fewer buses and trains than in Eastern Bavaria. sueddeutsche.de
Supplier industry: Transport transformation demands a lot from companies. The transformation is hitting small and medium-sized suppliers especially hard, who have specialised in combustion engines and lack the financial resources to invest in a change. But even the large companies are cutting numerous jobs in certain areas and have already announced some site closures. tagesschau.de
Mobility in Germany before pre-crisis levels: In July and August 2021, people in Germany were on the move more than before the Corona pandemic. Mobility was on average 4 per cent above the level of the corresponding pre-crisis months in 2019. A trend reversal was observed for movements over longer distances in the summer months: For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, more distances of 30 kilometres or more were travelled than in the reference months of 2019 (+1 percent). destatis.de
Charging point providers do not want to introduce card payment: At most charging points for e-cars, it is not possible to pay with a debit card, but with apps, charging cards or other digital options. This is to change with the revised charging station ordinance, on which the Federal Council will decide next week. Many charging station providers are protesting against this change, however, because paying with giro cards and the like is outdated. mdr.de Free local transport: In order to achieve the mobility turnaround, some cities are experimenting with free local transport, with varying degrees of success. What is needed are push and pull effects. tagesschau.de E-Roller: More fixed parking spaces, more no-parking zones: The mayors of some major German cities want to regulate the use of electric scooters more strongly. mdr.de
Free local transport: To achieve the mobility turnaround, some cities are experimenting with free local transport, with varying degrees of success. What is needed are push and pull effects. tagesschau.de
E-scooters: More fixed parking spaces, more no-parking zones: The mayors of some major German cities want to regulate the use of electric scooters more strongly. faz.net
Greens ask about resilience of transport infrastructure: „Resilience of transport infrastructure under conditions of climate crisis“ is the title of a small question of the parliamentary group Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (19/32178). The MPs want to know from the Federal Government, among other things, what measures the Deutsche Bahn AG (DB AG) is taking to detect track distortions or track position errors and switch malfunctions as a result of prolonged high temperatures. The question also asks what costs have been incurred since 2000 to repair heat-related damage to the railway infrastructure.
The seventeeen goals Magazin presents inspiring stories of how people move the world and shows how everyone can contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
HYDROGEN:
Stefan Kaufmann: The Federal Government Commissioner for Hydrogen fears that hydrogen will remain a scarce commodity in Germany in the future. „Debates about producing as much hydrogen as possible in Germany are nonsense. Germany currently imports about 70 percent of its primary energy. This is not likely to change significantly in the hydrogen age.“ spiegel.de
NorthStream 2 unsuitable for hydrogen: The Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline, which was completed on Friday, must not go into operation in the view of Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH). „Nord Stream 2 is and remains a mega-project that would cement dependence on fossil natural gas for decades to come,“ said DUH federal director Sascha Müller-Kraenner in Berlin on Friday. zeit.de
Uniper: The company wants to produce environmentally friendly hydrogen in Rotterdam. Uniper wants to produce green hydrogen with wind power from the North Sea. It would then be consumed in the Netherlands as well as North Rhine-Westphalia. heise.de
Hydrogen calculator: One of the big criticisms of hydrogen technologies is that they are said to be too expensive. A new hydrogen calculator now gives potential users a quick initial estimate of the economic viability of H2 projects. fair-economics.de
Wind power industry: presents concept for hydrogen production on the high seas. wiwo.de
Three family entrepreneurs forge a hydrogen alliance: The heads of the Viessmann Group, the Schmidt Kranz Group and Graforce GmbH are concerned that the innovations of medium-sized companies have not yet found their way into politics. handelsblatt.com
E-fuels in Chile: In southern Chile, a pilot plant is being launched to produce climate-neutral fuel with the help of wind energy and hydrogen. Porsche, Siemens and the German government want to promote climate neutrality far away from Germany.tagesschau.de
Potential for off-highway vehicles powered by hydrogen: According to the German government, „potentials of hydrogen combustion engines for propulsion can be identified“ especially for „off-highway“ vehicles such as tractors or construction machinery and certain rail vehicles. Whether this could also be the case in other sub-sectors of commercial vehicle and heavy goods transport is not yet foreseeable, according to the government’s answer (19/32205) to a minor question by the FDP parliamentary group (19/31768). For all other ground-based
LAST WEEK IN THE BUNDESTAG
Federal government presents soil protection report: On a four-year average from 2015 to 2019, the settlement and transport area in Germany increased by 52 hectares every day. Although this is significantly less than in the years 1997 to 2000 (129 hectares), it is considerably more than the target set by the Federal Government to limit daily land consumption to less than 30 hectares by 2030. This is shown in the Fifth Soil Protection Report (19/32341), which the federal government has submitted to the Bundestag. According to the report, new environmental pollutants such as the fluoroorganic pollutant compounds of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) also pose a threat to the soil. PFASs, which are found for example in outdoor jackets and Teflon pans, are a focus of the report. They are almost indestructible under environmental conditions and can pass from soil and water directly into food and fodder crops, the report says. The European Commission is planning a far-reaching ban on non-essential uses of PFASs by 2024, it said. „Protecting soil from harmful changes is a complex environmental policy challenge due to the diversity of influencing factors,“ the report continues. In this context, soil protection is becoming increasingly important. The report goes back to a resolution passed by the Bundestag in October 2000, which calls on the federal government to submit a report to the Bundestag once per legislative period on the progress made in the field of soil protection.
Deterioration of the human rights situation in Nicaragua: The deep domestic political crisis in Nicaragua, which has been ongoing since April 2018, remains unresolved, according to the German government. „The already precarious human rights situation has deteriorated dramatically in the run-up to the election date in November 2021,“ writes the federal government in its answer (19/32194) to a minor interpellation by the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen parliamentary group (19/31537). Opponents of the regime are politically persecuted and imprisoned in violation of the rule of law. There were major abuses in the areas of freedom of association, freedom of the media and freedom of expression, which increasingly restricted civil society. In addition, the rule of law is lacking, many crimes go unpunished, and opposition members are politically persecuted. The German government is working at all levels to ensure that Nicaragua meets its international obligations with regard to the observance of human rights. There is a constant and open exchange with the Nicaraguan government, which, however, repeatedly comes up against the limits of different systemic views based on the Nicaraguan government’s narrative of having to protect itself against attempts at interference and destabilisation from abroad. This is also how the government justifies its actions against opposition politicians, who are accused of treason, among other things.
Consequences of the Federal Constitutional Court’s climate decision: The federal government attaches great importance to climate protection in all policy fields. This is stated in the answer (19/32154) to a small question (19/31902) of the FDP parliamentary group, which asked about the consequences of the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court on the Climate Protection Act. In this context, the Federal Government refers to the amendment of the Climate Protection Act, which was passed by the Bundestag on 24 June 2021. As the Federal Government further explains, the Federal Constitutional Court did not comment in its decision on section 4, paragraph 1, sentence 7 of the Climate Protection Act, according to which subjective rights and actionable legal positions are not established by the Act. Rather, the Federal Constitutional Court essentially relied on the complainants‘ fundamental rights „in their manifestation as intertemporal safeguarding of freedom“.
TAKEN LITERALLY
„For many applications, chemical energy sources make more sense because the energy is stored in them and can be used when needed. Moreover, we can already build on existing infrastructure. Hydrogen could be transported in Europe through the existing pipeline network. For transport outside Europe, we could produce methanol from hydrogen and CO2, for example, which can be shipped across the world’s oceans in tankers.“
Max Schlögel, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion and at the Fritz Haber Institute, how we can build up an efficient hydrogen infrastructure is the subject of a project called TransHyde, which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research with 139 million euros and in which his group is involved. In addition to methanol, liquid organic hydrogen carriers, which are called LOHC, play an important role. How to achieve the splitting is being investigated within the framework of this project. It is important that we introduce a certification for hydrogen so that the economy does not cheat politics: After all, anyone could claim that hydrogen is green or blue and in reality it is coal-black. mpg.de
AFRICA
Ethiopia accuses Tigray rebels of massacre of 120 civilians: TPLF rebels allegedly rampaged through a village in the northern region of Amhara. If the claims are true, it would be the first mass killing there perpetrated by the Tigray fighters.dw.com
Eswatini: This month marks the 53rd anniversary of Eswatini’s independence, but instead of celebrating, people are planning „freedom“ protests and demanding political and social change. Eswatini is Africa’s last absolute monarchy, meaning the king controls everything. bbc.com
Coup in Guinea: no guarantee of improvement. The military has arrested and deposed elected President Condé. Relief and disillusionment will balance each other out in the country. taz.de
Comoros are threatened: The island state in the Indian Ocean between Mozambique and Madagascar is under threat. Whereas 40 years ago there were just over 300,000 people living on the archipelago, today there are an estimated 870,000: the majority work in agriculture. The mountain slopes of the volcanic islands are steep, and more and more trees have to make way for new fields. This has consequences; less than ten of the 45 or so rivers still carry water all year round. Added to this are political instability and a poor infrastructure – these hamper economic development. Electricity is irregular; rubbish ends up on the beach and in the riverbed because there is no landfill. Some citizens take government tasks into their own hands: villagers patch potholes in the roads, for example, and collect a small toll from passing cars and trucks. faz.net
Congo: The poisonous broth that brought death and destruction. Dangerous chemicals from a diamond mine in Angola spread via rivers to the neighbouring country of Congo. People and animals died. Satellite images document the extent of the disaster.spiegel.de
Morocco: Government party loses parliamentary election by a clear margin. According to preliminary results, the PJD falls from 125 to twelve MPs. It expresses „concerns“ about possible electoral fraud. derstandard.at
Zambia: Change of power in Zambia boosts financial markets Zambia has had a turbulent time. But the tide is turning: Since mid-August, the kwacha has jumped sharply. The new president and his finance minister are hopefuls. faz.net
South Africa: Ex-President Zuma released from prison for health reasons.The 79-year-old has been in hospital since the beginning of August. He is suspected of corruption. derstandard.at
Bad news from the Sahel: The conflict in the Sahel is spreading from the edges to the centre – and has turned Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in particular into hotspots of violence. derstandard.at
Tropical Forest Conference agrees on forest protection: The rainforest in the Congo Basin is the second largest tropical forest on earth. Now, at a conference in Berlin, ten African riparian states have committed themselves to more forest protection and sustainable forestry. dw.com
MORE KNOWLEDGE
Thin-film photovoltaics with extremely high efficiency: Solar electricity plays an important role in the energy transition. However, it could be even better if the solar modules were more flexible. Many buildings are not designed so that the roofs could bear the weight of solar modules. Thin-film photovoltaics could help. For these flexible solar cells can be installed as thin films almost anywhere – provided that the efficiency is high enough to make their use worthwhile. Switzerland is quite far along in the development: for the second time, it has broken the previous efficiency rate with a new record. It now stands at 21.4 per cent. ingenieur.de
Megadroughts in North and South America are linked: Two important agricultural regions have repeatedly been very dry at the same time for decades. The link could also have consequences for world food supplies in the future. However, experts point out that both the southwest of North America and the southwest of South America have become drier in the last two decades due to climate change. spektrum.de
Venice could sink faster into the sea: If a recent study is to be believed, the lagoon city could sink into the sea faster than assumed. Sea levels could rise by more than a metre in the coming decades, according to fears expressed by a team of climate and ocean researchers. Without a significant halt to climate change, a rise of up to 120 centimetres is possible by 2100, the experts say. In an extreme scenario, the rise is as high as 170 centimetres. the flood protection system that Venice has would therefore have to be closed all year round from 2075 to protect the city from the sea. this will have an extreme impact on Venice’s environment and economy. derstandard.at
Cruises: Industry becomes more environmentally conscious. fair-economics.de
Greta Thunberg: Attacks Brazil’s environmental policy. n-tv.de
Environmental protection: Sustainability tips for families. rnd.de
Austria: National parks threaten to „go to seed“. Protected areas are degenerating into a marketing tool for tourism, warn scientists. derstandard.at
Real estate: Due to high raw material prices, recycling is becoming more and more interesting. handelsblatt.com
THE LAST:
Dishonourable Nobel Prizes awarded: There are prizes for bullshit too, and even Nobel Prizes, they are called ignoble Nobel Prizes and were awarded for such things as research into bacteria in discarded chewing gum, beards to protect against punches in the face and orgasms for better nasal breathing, a total of ten scientific studies that are supposed to „first make you laugh and then make you think“ have been awarded in the USA. The gala at the elite Harvard University is a traditionally shrill event.
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