Status: October 27, 2021 3:13 p.m.
With the conversion to a climate-friendly industry, SPD chancellor candidate Scholz wants to initiate the necessary steps in the first year of government. According to the Greens leader Baerbock, European solutions are needed for change.
SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz and Green leader Annalena Baerbock are striving for a quick, climate-friendly restructuring of the industry. “In the first year, the new government will initiate all legal changes and set the course so that Germany does not have an electricity shortage, but can instead produce enough electricity for the industry of the future and for the jobs of the future,” said Scholz at a congress the industrial union IG BCE.
Scholz referred to an additional energy requirement of German industry in the course of the planned switch to more climate-friendly production methods. According to Scholz, the chemical industry alone will consume as much electricity by 2050 as Germany as a whole today, said Scholz.
More renewable energies
Therefore, the industry is facing a major upheaval: everywhere must be invested in new technologies and capabilities in order to stop man-made climate change, said Scholz. “If that is the case, then it will be for a short time.” It is therefore not just about replacing nuclear and coal electricity, but about generating the necessary “additional energy”.
More rapid decisions are required about higher expansion targets for renewable energies and grid expansion. There have long been concepts and specific investment projects. Germany could create this change and become “a leading country in the industrial world of the future,” said the SPD politician.
In this context, the continued use of gas to generate electricity and the construction of new gas-fired power plants are necessary, added Scholz. This is indispensable as a “transition technology”.
Baerbock calls for common solutions from the EU
Green party leader Annalena Baerbock campaigned for European solutions with a view to the upcoming transformation processes. “Our claim is nothing else: to shape Europe as the first climate-neutral continent in the next few years and thus to secure the prosperity and also the industrial location of Europe”, said Baerbock at the BCE congress. Germany must become the driving force.
If Europe does not act together, the continent cannot develop a common clout. But this is necessary because Europe is not in a neutral world. “China not only competes in industry, but also competes in systems with us Europeans,” said Baerbock. She advocated applying Europe’s competition rules not only to the internal market, but also to third countries – such as foreign investors who were subject to subsidy guidelines.
The parties of a possible traffic light government made up of the SPD, the Greens and the FDP have entered into in-depth coalition talks at working group level today. Because many questions, especially in the area of climate protection measures and their financing, are still open. The aim of the traffic light parties is to form a government in the second week of December.