Bavaria: Climate neutrality by 2040 will cost many billions – Bavaria

According to a new estimate, the conversion of energy supply, transport and other areas could cost 167 billion euros – also because important steps were missed. Business representatives are increasing the pressure on politicians.

According to a new study, investments in the three-digit billion range are necessary for the climate neutrality of Bavaria, which the state government hopes to achieve by 2040. The Prognos Institute estimates the sum in the analysis published on Friday at 167 billion euros. Accordingly, investments would have to be made primarily in the conversion of the energy supply, including a new hydrogen network. The client was the Association of Bavarian Business (VBW). The need for investment in energy supply is so high that, at EUR 87.6 billion, more than half of the EUR 167 billion would have to be spent on this purpose alone.

“The Bavarian deficit in the energy infrastructure, especially in the expansion of the power grid and wind energy, must be caught up as quickly as possible,” says VBW CEO Bertram Brossardt. This refers to the fact that the CSU has blocked the expansion of wind energy in Bavaria for years due to resistance from parts of the population, and the Free Voters in turn blocked the construction of new power lines – even if the two governing parties are not named in the Prognos estimate. In addition, the VBW managing director demands that “an efficient infrastructure for the transport of hydrogen to Bavaria must be planned today”. In the current plans for a hydrogen network “Bavaria is only marginally included”, the study says, the connection of the Free State to it “is currently only unclear”.

Apart from the energy sector, according to Prognos, the remaining investment needs are distributed among transport, private households, industry, commerce, trade and services. The conversion of traffic is the second major investment block on the way to climate neutrality. His share of the 167 billion is 36.8 billion euros or 22 percent. The federal government wants to make Germany climate-neutral by 2045, the state government of Bavaria five years earlier by 2040. According to Prognos estimates, this is driving up the financial requirements even further. The authors call this “a tightening of implementation by 26 percent” and point out that power plants, buildings and other infrastructure have to be planned well in advance. “Therefore, Bavaria has to invest more in earlier phases than is done in the rest of Germany and Europe,” says Brossardt.

Both Prognos and VBW emphasize that the 167 billion euros are not about costs, but about investments that pay off. “Climate protection must be understood as an economic stimulus program that effectively stimulates the switch to climate-friendly technologies and at the same time prevents excessive burdens on companies and the population,” says Brossardt. “In order to make the necessary investments, quick and bold decisions have to be made.” These sentences can also be understood as being addressed directly to the unnamed black-orange government coalition.

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