Some time ago, the Association of Bavarian Energy and Water Management (vbew) calculated everything that would be needed for Bavaria to be climate-neutral by 2040, as Prime Minister and CSU leader Markus Söder promised in spring 2021. According to this, at least 150 new wind turbines and more than twice as many photovoltaic systems as currently would have to be connected to the grid every year. Every week, 1,250 residential buildings would have to be energetically renovated, and every year 118,000 old heating systems would have to be replaced with new, climate-neutral ones. It would take five new, large electrolysers every week to produce green hydrogen, plus six battery storage systems, each the size of a shipping container, to compensate for short-term power shortages. The short excerpt from the vbew list makes two things clear. First: The challenges on the way to climate neutrality are enormous. Second: The state government is still far from mastering it. The two new wind farms that Söder announced on Tuesday are just a small step on Bavaria’s path to climate neutrality.
These days Söder’s promise becomes law. The state parliament wanted to pass the new Bavarian climate protection law on Tuesday. In it, Bavaria’s climate neutrality from the year 2040 is cast in paragraphs. The new law became necessary because the Federal Constitutional Court in spring 2021 classified the federal climate protection law and thus also the corresponding state laws as far too lukewarm. Immediately after the decision of the Karlsruhe judges, Söder pushed ahead and announced a new Bavarian climate protection law that should top both the new federal law and any other new state laws.
As full-bodied as Söder’s promise was, the criticism of the new law is harsh, right from the start. Not only environmental organizations and the opposition in the state parliament, whose core business includes criticism of the state government, took the draft to court harshly. But also the municipalities and the economy, which are not exactly suspected of being notorious critics of the state government, CSU and free voters. “The Bavarian Climate Protection Act does not provide an answer to the key question on the way to climate neutrality: How can energy be made available in sufficient quantities at internationally competitive prices (…) in the future?” writes the chemical industry, for example, to the cabinet. The few innovations, such as the photovoltaic requirement in new commercial buildings, will not be able to achieve this. And as far as the expansion of wind power is concerned, which Söder is now always announcing, it remains to be seen whether the relaxation of the controversial 10-hour distance rule will really bring about a breakthrough for the energy transition in Bavaria.