Overline: German Government

Headline: Monitoring the Energiewende: Expert Commission Draws on Social Sustainability Barometer

On 27 June the Federal Cabinet gave its stamp of approval to the 6th Energiewende Monitoring Report submitted by Economic Affairs Minister Peter Altmaier (CDU). In a statement on the report, the independent expert commission charged with observing the monitoring process has for the first time compiled indicators on public acceptance, drawing on the Social Sustainability Barometer for the German Energiewende. The Barometer, which monitors the social dimensions of the energy transition, was prepared for the first time in 2017 by the IASS in the context of the dynamis partnership.

The Social Sustainability Barometer for the Germany Energiewende indicates that citizens want to have a say in the expansion of wind energy. IASS/Norbert Michalke

06.07.2018

While acknowledging that the government is aware of the importance of public acceptance for the success of the Energiewende, the independent expert commission is critical of the fact that the 6th Monitoring Report does not explicitly address this issue.

According to the commission, public acceptance of the Energiewende is “not an absolute given” and on the whole “endangered”. This appraisal is based on three indicators: overall support for the Energiewende; satisfaction with the way it is being implemented; and support for the Energiewende in one’s own personal context. The commission draws on the Social Sustainability Barometer in the case of the first two indicators. Using a traffic light system to assess the state of play with regard to all three indicators, it rates overall public support for the Energiewende as green and satisfaction with the way it is being implemented as amber. The third indicator, support for the Energiewende in one’s own personal context, is rated red, and the commission believes that progress in this area is “unlikely” before 2020/22.

“Growing recognition that the Energiewende will not succeed without the broad acceptance and involvement of the population, has not yet been adequately reflected in concrete decision-making processes,” remarks IASS researcher Daniela Setton, one of the main authors of the Barometer, in response to the expert commission’s statement. She therefore welcomes the fact that the commission has come up with new indicators to highlight the significance of the “social dimension” for the further implementation of the energy transition and alerted the government to the need for action on this front.

The German government’s “Future Energy” monitoring process charts developments in the Energiewende on an ongoing basis. One of its main tasks is to collate and summarise the vast amount of available energy data. In addition to analysing measures that have already been implemented, the monitoring process tries to anticipate what needs to be done in the future, thus giving rise to an annual overview of the status of the Energiewende.

On this topic

Dossiers

Der Chemiekonzern Bayer stellt bereits Produkte aus CO2 her.

Economic activities and consumer behaviour in developed countries are currently based mainly on the use of fossil-based raw materials, and their emissions are largely responsible for anthropogenic climate change. In efforts to reduce human effects on the climate, the avoidance of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is and remains the most important measure. But high CO2 emissions go hand in hand with a demand for carbon in the form of many of the goods that we need on a daily basis, for example for the production of plastics or fuels. Can it therefore make sense to consider the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) as a source of carbon? Since the 1970s, scientists have been researching carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technologies. The aim of these technologies is to re-cycle the CO2 contained in emissions as a feedstock for industrial processes. This captured CO2 could replace fossil-based carbon as a component of materials and energy carriers, thereby creating a carbon cycle.

Prototyp eines supraleitenden Stromkabels.

In the coming decades, the development of renewable energy sources (RES) such as wind and solar will play a major role in reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and making our energy system more sustainable. But the places where RES are available or would be most efficient are often located far away from the densely populated and industrial areas where the energy is needed: on the open sea in the case of offshore wind and in sunnier climes in the case of solar. This means that the construction of new power lines needs to go hand in hand with RES development. In Germany for instance, expanding the electrical grid has become a crucial precondition for the success of the Energiewende.

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Overline: German Government

Headline: Monitoring the Energiewende: Expert Commission Draws on Social Sustainability Barometer

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