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The industry still contributes a large proportion to CO2 pollution and thus to climate change. Where do German companies stand – and what are they doing for more sustainability?
What can I as an individual do to protect the climate? This question is raised again and again. However, many climate activists are demanding that industry in particular should move. As a major CO2 emitter, a turnaround and transformation will be necessary for a long time, especially there. For example, Fridays For Future Germany demands that Germany, “as one of the economically strongest countries and historically the largest emitters”, must work to ensure that COP28 is a success.
And so many German representatives from industry and business are also on site in Dubai. Because they know: their contribution to global climate change is not small. Heavy industry and the production of metals, chemicals and also cement have so far consumed an enormous amount of fossil energy. This leads to immensely high CO2 emissions. According to the Federal Environment Agency, the industrial sector fell in the year 2022 over 110 million tons of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gases out of. The “Iron and Steel” sector has the largest share at around 29.5 percent. This corresponds to around 33 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
Green hydrogen instead of fossil fuels
How can this be changed? This question is often not only related to climate protection, but also to the question of economic viability. One of the companies that wants to counteract this is Thyssenkrupp. The largest steelworks in Germany is located in the Ruhr area and in the future wants to produce its steel by using hydrogen. Overall, steel production is responsible for seven percent of carbon dioxide emissions in Germany. A change here would be very important.
“The production and trading of green steel is one of the most important projects in the fight against climate change and in reducing CO2 emissions in Germany and worldwide,” says Andreas Kölsch, Head of Technical Sales at the company, as quoted on its own website. “Green steel will play an indispensable role in a climate-neutral society. Many industries depend on steel,” the company continues to advertise its project.
The CEO of the Duisburg company is currently in Dubai at the World Climate Conference. Miguel Ángel López Borrego speaks there of a necessary cooperation between industry and politics: “This is about establishing partnerships, working with politics to make partnerships between companies possible and to drive this forward.”
Climate protection also means more economics
Climate researchers also say that such projects can be groundbreaking. Above all, greater profitability is also in the companies’ own interest and leads to faster implementation and success in terms of climate protection. “The steel industry in Germany, with the two largest companies Thyssenkrupp and Salzgitter at the helm, has sent clear signals for the consistent switch to climate-friendly production structures,” says climate scientist Manfred Fishick from the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy.
“One of the most important next steps is the development of a hydrogen infrastructure that ensures the supply of the location. For this purpose, the gas network operators nationwide are specifically preparing to set up a hydrogen start-up network,” explains the scientist. It is also important to establish green product markets, which in the future will make it possible for the production of green steel from Germany to pay for itself. In this way, climate protection would be successful in this part of the industry.
It takes energy, nutrition and Turning resources
Another example is the cement industry, which is currently still a climate sinner. In Germany, the focus is primarily on the DAX group Heidelberg Materials (formerly Heidelberg Cement). In an evaluation by the “Handelsblatt” for 2021, the company came in second place in the list of the largest CO2 emitters in the DAX – directly behind the energy giant RWE. A solution for the cement industry would be to capture and store climate-damaging CO2 gases. In technical terms this is called “Carbon Capture and Storage” (CCS). In this way, CO2 could be rendered harmless. The goal: climate-neutral cement production would be possible.
It is clear, according to climate researchers, that only a general change can contribute to a turnaround – even if it is expensive and time-consuming. “But now we have come to the point where we have seen that we have to make something like leaps in innovation,” explained political economist Maja Göpel in a recent interview tagesschau24. Not only individual products but an entire system need to be improved. “We then talk about turning points. A turnaround in an energy system or a turnaround in a food system or a turnaround in resources.”
Federal Constitutional Court ruling causes further unrest
The decision of the Federal Constitutional Court a few weeks ago caused unrest, as some press offices of large key industries in Germany described it upon request. The 60 billion budget hole – the investments in climate protection, innovation and transformation that are now missing or considered unsafe: This is a concern for many companies and companies.
It is precisely here that politicians are called upon to provide answers quickly, says climate researcher Fishedick from the Wuppertal Institute: “It will now be important to send clear signals and resolve the uncertainties caused by the Federal Constitutional Court’s ruling.” The state toolbox basically contains the crucial elements. “What’s important now is consistent implementation – and generating the necessary reliability for the industry through credibility.”
A lot of things are still a thing of the future; This must now become a reality soon. Because if transformation processes for heavy industry are only conceived in theory but not put into practice, it will be difficult to make any significant progress in terms of decarbonization and the fight against climate change.