Climate Protection

It is also time to realise in this country that Germany is the odd one out where energy policy is concerned. Since 2008 the European Union has expressly acknowledged nuclear energy`s contribution to climate protection and has declared this form of energy to be a firm part of the EU energy policy.

The EU energy and climate protection package of 23 January 2008 coined the slogan "20-20-20". The intention being to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and total final energy consumption (tfec) by 20 percent by 2020. The proportion of electricity generated from renewable energies is supposed to increase to 20 percent by 2020. If other countries were to set themselves comparable targets for the reduction of greenhouse gases, then the EU would commit itself to a reduction by 30 percent.

However, whilst the EU expressly acknowledges nuclear energy`s contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the government of the grand coalition in Germany continues to disagree. The consequence: Nuclear energy plays no part in the Federal Government`s integrated energy and climate programme (IECP), the most important implementation measures of which were enacted in the German Bundestag in June 2008. And this even though Germany has committed itself over and above the EU standard to a reduction of greenhouse gases by 40 percent by 2020.

German energy policy claims to guarantee a climate-friendly, safe and yet affordable electricity supply for the future. Claims and reality, however, are miles apart.

Climate Protection Without Nuclear Energy Will Lead To Unnecessary Costs
Global climate protection is a reality. In 2008 experts forecast its dramatic impact on the economy. As a result, in its study of 26 March 2008 entitled "Costs of climate change unequally divided: Economically weak Federal states hardest hit", the German Institute for Economic Research (Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung DIW) stated, "Extreme climatic events such as heavy rainfall, storms and drought will also continue to increase with global climate change. Germany too will increasingly experience extreme climatic events. The result of this will be both flooding in areas close to rivers and crop failures in the case of drought. Security of the energy supply will also suffer in the event of water shortages. Tourism areas will shift, agricultural cultivation methods will change; it is also possible that tropical illnesses will occur in our regions."

Consequently, according to experts of the DIW, over the next 50 years Germany would incur overall costs of up to EUR 800 billion. It is vital to reduce these costs - by means of the most efficient climate protection measures available. This includes the generation of electricity from nuclear power plants.

One reason among many for these enormous costs is the interaction that exists with the trade in CO2 emission certificates. The Institute of Energy Economics (Energiewirtschaftliches Institut EWI) explains the relationship between phasing out nuclear energy and the CO2 emissions trade in a study on the "Overall Energy Economy Concept 2030" dated 31 March 2008 written on behalf of the BDI and in conjunction with the Energy Environment Forecast Analysis GmbH (EEFA).

If, despite phasing out climate-friendly nuclear energy, German politics were to pursue further-reaching emission reduction targets than those specified by the EU Council in March 2007, then according to the EWI this would greatly increase the price of CO2 emission certificates for German industry. The reason: More CO2 emission certificates will be necessary to achieve the targets as the base load will have to be secured by using coal-fired or gas-fired power plants instead of nuclear power plants. According to the market economy principle that demand determines the supply price, this will drive up the costs for CO2 emission certificates. These costs will be factored into the price of electricity and thus make it rise. The result would be maximum prices for electricity production in Germany.

The need for new base load power plants is a further factor in the upward trend of the electricity price. It is necessary, if we want to avoid electricity imports, to build new base load power plants in the foreseeable future to compensate for the nuclear power plants which are being taken offline and which produce low-cost electricity with low operating costs. Just like the higher variable costs in relation to nuclear energy, the investments necessary for this will be reflected in a future electricity price.

Thus a "carry on as before" attitude of German energy policy without nuclear energy will make climate protection unnecessarily expensive. An extension of the running times for German nuclear power plants would be a highly efficient and also easily implemented measure en route to an environmentally compatible and simultaneously cost-efficient energy supply. At any rate, without nuclear energy we will not achieve the ambitious climate protection targets in Germany.

Would you like to learn more about the topic of climate protection and nuclear energy? The DIW and BDI studies referred to provide in-depth information. They may be downloaded at: