Page 10 - EurOil Week 18 2021

EurOil POLICY EurOil

Germany sets tougher emissions targets

GERMANY GERMANY’S government has raised its targets Germany’s energy sector would be expected
for reducing the country’s carbon dioxide (CO2) to play a significant role in the emissions-reduc-
emissions following a ruling by the constitu- tion efforts. The draft law requires the energy
tional court. sector to cut CO2 emissions by around a third
The court said last week that the government more than previously planned, while industry
had failed to set out how emissions would be would be expected to reduce its emissions by a
reduced beyond 2030, and was placing too great further 15% and the transport sector by another
a responsibility for further reductions on future 10%.
generations. The ruling came after Germany’s On top of the court ruling, the government
2019 climate law was challenged as being unfit likely came under additional pressure to act
Germany’s energy for purpose. because the Green Party has been in the lead in six
sector would be In response, German Minister of Finance out of 10 polls published over the past two weeks,
expected to play a Olaf Scholz said the country would now aim for ahead of elections in September. If these results
significant role in the a 65% cut in CO2 emissions by 2030, compared are sustained, the Greens will pose a major threat
emissions-reduction with 55% previously, and 88% by 2040 com- to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU),
efforts. pared with 1990 levels. Under the new targets, which has governed Germany since 2005.
Germany would also aim for nearly net-zero German Minister for the Environment Svenja
emissions by 2045, rather than 2050 as initially Schulze commented that all of Germany’s politi-
planned, he added. cal parties were now competing with each other
The German government has said the coun- on their climate goals.
try’s emissions are already 40% below 1990 lev- “That’s positive news, because it’s now no
els, but significant further reductions will now be longer just about protecting the climate,” she
required. The Cabinet could formalise the new said. “We’re now arguing about the best ideas and
targets as soon as next week. the best concepts.”™

PROJECTS & COMPANIES

Energinet announces reorganisation

DENMARK DENMARK’S state-owned Energinet
announced on April 29 that it would merge its
twin subsidiaries to form a single gas and power
system operator, the Electricity System Operator
and Gas Transmission System Operator (TSO).
The move is aimed at making it easier for
Energinet to help pursue Denmark’s climate tar-
gets. The country is aiming to reduce its green-
house gas (GHG) emissions by 70% below 1990
levels by 2030, with net-zero emissions targeted
for 2050.
Energinet hopes that establishing the new
joint System Operator and combining the exper-
tise of the gas and electricity divisions will add
extra momentum to creating an energy system
that increasingly runs on renewables. It acknowl-
edged that creating and operating such a system
would be an “extremely complex task” given the phase out oil and natural gas in the heating of
intermittent nature of renewable energy sources both private houses and in district heating com-
such as wind and solar. panies. And the rapidly increasing generation of
Ultimately Energinet is aiming to achieve biogas should not only replace natural gas where
100% green energy. gas is still needed – the gas sector must also be
“In future, power from wind and solar linked to other sectors to an even greater extent.”
resources must not only ensure 100% green elec- Energinet added that it would likely need to
tricity in our sockets, but also push petrol and convert very large quantities of green electricity
diesel out of the transport sector as we start driv- into hydrogen in the future, with existing gas
ing electric vehicles [EVs],” the company stated. pipelines being repurposed to transport it both
“In the same way, electric heat pumps etc. must domestically and to other European countries.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 18 06•May•2021