The German Environment Agency (UBA) has published its scientific opinion on the EU's climate policy ambition — outlining what it will take to achieve the EU climate targets and make Europe's path to climate neutrality credible, coherent, and fair.
The total share of renewable energies in energy consumption (electricity, heat and transport) rose to 22 per cent in Germany in 2023. In 2022, this share was at 20.8 per cent. This positive development was the result of a growth of renewables in the electricity and heat sector while overall energy demand declined.
The new Registry of guarantees of regional origin (RNR) makes it possible to issue regional GOs for electricity that has been financially supported according to the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). RN-certificates show in which installation (e.g. a wind farm) an amount of electricity has been produced. Electricity suppliers can thus offer their customers regional electricity products.
A research report commissioned by the UBA has analysed a range of options for designing the EU Innovation Fund (IF), a financing instrument created under the EU Emissions Trading System to support demonstration projects for low-carbon innovation in the power sector and industry. From 2019 onwards, this fund will use revenues from auctioning emissions trading allowances for this purpose.
Germany's Energiewende is a complex, large-scale project. The tasks and measures by which to achieve it are manifold and diverse, as reflected by the many active players in Germany. The publication "Who is who of the Energiewende in Germany – Contact Partners in Politics, Industry and Society", published by the Foreign Office in German and English, provides an overview.
