Whether a sustainable lifestyle is financially worthwhile for households is a matter of public debate. The high initial investment in particular reinforces the prejudice that switching to renewable energies is the morally correct but expensive alternative to a fossil-fuelled lifestyle. A cost comparison carried out by DIW Econ on behalf of Enpal B.V. suggests that the opposite is true.
Economic and ecological transformation costs of mandatory reuse requirements
According to the German Packaging Act, the target for reusable beverage packaging is 70%. With a recent figure of 43.1%, this target is still far from being met, and political targets for increasing the proportion of reusable packaging are increasingly becoming the focus of public debate.
The state of Baden-Württemberg on the road to climate neutrality
The government of Baden-Württemberg has set itself the goal of making the state carbon-neutral by 2040. However, to meet this challenge, transformation efforts on an unprecedented scale are required. On behalf of the SPD parliamentary group in Baden-Württemberg, DIW Econ has analysed how much CO2 emissions need to be saved each year and what measures need to be taken in the buildings, transport, electricity and heat generation sectors to reach the goal of climate neutrality in 2040 by 2030.
Targeted, Ecological and Social? Evaluation of energy policy relief measures
Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine, renewed curfews in China, and the consequences of these events on global supply chains, the inflation rate has reached historic levels in reunified Germany since the beginning of the year. The German government has already adopted two comprehensive measures to cushion the impact of rising prices for energy, food and mobility. However, given the increasing uncertainty in the energy supply and continuing high inflation rates, these do not seem to be enough.
Social welfare associations, in particular, have criticized that the relief measures have so far not considered lower income groups and pensioners sufficiently. At the same time, climate experts fear that individual interventions such as the fuel rebate will create false incentives in the fight against climate change.
Against this background, DIW Econ, together with Prof. Dr Claudia Kemfert, on behalf of the Climate Alliance Germany, has evaluated the existing relief measures and provides an outlook on how ecological and distributional effects can be considered together in a new relief package. This is done based on an analysis of five measures in the areas of energy & heat, transport & mobility and food, which are currently being discussed politically and in the media in anticipation of a further relief package.
Recommendation for the further development of the Berlin Energy and Climate Protection Program 2030
The amendment to the Berlin Climate Protection and Energy Turnaround Act (EWG Bln) sets binding climate targets for Berlin: A reduction of CO2 emissions by at least 70 per cent by 2030 and by at least 90 per cent by 2040 compared to the reference year 1990, and the achievement of climate neutrality by 2045 at the latest.
The Berlin Energy and Climate Protection Programme (BEK 2030) is the central instrument for achieving Berlin’s climate targets. According to the Berlin Climate Protection and Energy Turnaround Act requirements, the BEK is to be further developed regularly, and the draft is to be submitted to the Berlin House of Representatives no later than one year after the constitution of the parliament.