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On April 15, Germany will shut down its last remaining nuclear power plants, marking the end of the country's more than 60-year foray into nuclear power and a long-time era of Franco-German cooperation.
With plans for a national nutrition strategy in the EU Farm to Form vein, German agriculture minister Cem Özdemir wants to make diets healthier and more plant-based, but some say the proposal is dictating what people can and cannot eat.
Policymakers, businesses and households alike are struggling to cope with skyrocketing prices, which are fanning fears of irreparable damages to the country’s prized industries, economic hardships for its citizens, and social unrest. The long-term impact on the country’s landmark energy transition remains uncertain, as Germany redoubles efforts to roll out renewables, but also bets on liquefied natural gas (LNG), a temporary revival of coal plants and a limited runtime extension for its remaining nuclear plants to weather the storm.
Authorities in Hamburg announced that they will phase out internal combustion engine-powered boats on the Alster river. The move is part of the city’s climate plan and promises significant carbon redu..
The Green party tried to push a bill to make the city centre of Berlin car-free, however, the Senate rejected the proposition. Despite the propositions merits of reducing traffic, emissions and pollut..
Germany will introduce a monthly pass, at the price of just 9 euros, that will be valid for all public transport, including trains, subway and buses. The decision came as a response to rising fuel pri..
Kate Connolly writes on The Guardian website about the call of the new German climate minister for a threefold increase in the speed with which carbon dioxide emissions are reduced. The minister, Robert Habeck, warned Germany was currently “dramatically behind” in its aim to achieve a goal for 80% of energy to come from renewable sources by 2030, as well as for a 65% reduction in greenhouse gases compared with 1990 levels, and to become climate neutral by 2045. Currently about 42% of energy in Germany comes from renewables.
The German city of Münster has once again confirmed its dedication to sustainable transit and climate action. Mayor of Münster Markus Lewe attended the opening ceremony of the e-bus line 8 which now consists almost entirely of electric buses. Mayor Lewe stated on social media: “Electric buses are a win-win for everyone involved, so every …
La nouvelle coalition allemande a défini la politique énergétique du pays. L’éolien et le solaire représenteront 80 % de la production d’électricité en 2030. Et la neutralité carbone est visée en 2045.
Berlin (Allemagne), correspondance
C’était une promesse des Verts allemands durant la campagne électorale. La sortie du charbon, initialement prévue en 2038, sera avancée à 2030, selon le contrat de coalition présenté mercredi 24 novembre par les futurs dirigeants outre-Rhin : les sociaux-démocrates du SPD , (...)
Germany's federal election 2021 has shaken up the party landscape with the Social Democrats scoring a narrow victory, the conservatives suffering a historic loss, and the Green Party in a much stronger position. After an election campaign that put climate and energy policy centre stage and helped the Greens get their highest result so far, creating a new government will most likely involve three parties.
Recent examples of eco-housing projects led by City Councils in the UK include Exeter social housing project which created 200 council homes built to meet the German “Passivhaus” energy efficiency standard and Norwich Council’s social housing scheme, which was awarded an architectural prize (the prestigious RIBA Stirling Prize) and similarly features buildings based on “passivhaus” norms.
The IEA’s report released earlier this year, “Hydrogen in North-Western Europe: A vision towards 2030”, welcomes the fact that the six countries analysed – Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK – have the ambition to build a hydrogen economy. They are Europe’s major hydrogen producers and consumers, have major ports that already service this sector, have natural gas infrastructure that can be repurposed, and access to new offshore wind and carbon storage capacity that can make low or no-carbon hydrogen. But the report’s main purpose is to warn that the current pipeline of projects is not enough to meet ambitions. Policies must be strengthened, with better coordination. The report makes its recommendations, including the development of an integrated regional market, support for innovation and market size scale-up, and the creation of a strategy for new production capacities for low-carbon hydrogen.
This report assesses the potential of zero carbon supply chains via a case study of the freight transport chain linked to the port of Hamburg. It analyses the initiatives taken by selected main stakeholders to decarbonise freight transport. In addition, it offers recommendations on how the move towards zero carbon supply chains could be accelerated.
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Berlin is getting ready for a referendum on climate neutrality and moving the deadline from 2045 to 2030. Local officials believe that to be nigh impossible without incurring debt in the billions of e..
The recently published report Towards Circular Food Systems in Bonn shows that transitioning to a circular food system offers Bonn a way to achieve substantial waste prevention and to fulfill it’s long-term strategies of becoming a zero-waste city while also contributing to its aim to become climate-neutral by 2035
As part of its waste prevention ambition, the city of Bonn is focusing on food waste mitigation and packaging reduction initiatives, as well as campaigns to encourage sustainable consumption that contribute to zero waste. The circular economy offers practical tools to achieve this goal.
The 1,000 municipal utilities that are the last link in the German energy supply chain are feeling the pinch of record-high energy prices, raising fears that some of them might go bankrupt.
Authorities in Dortmund have launched a ‘play street’ initiative, offering streets as public spaces for recreation for the locals. This would allow people to play football, party and form communities ..
The Bavarian capital wants to construct a massive, city-wide cycling expressway system by 2025.
Recently, the local government in Munich announced a new cycling infrastructure strategy, that will see the construction of six cycling expressways in the city, as well as a bicycle ring road around the centre. This massive expansion of the cycling infrastructure came after a 2019 citizen-led petition and a feasibility study from last year.
Mayor of Münster Markus Lewe has declared climate action to be the city’s top priority. He called for more flexibility and cooperation.
However, the full phase-out will not be over for a long time, as the post-operational phase and the gradual dismantling of the plants, under the responsibility of operators, is expected to take many more years.
Two months after the general election in Germany, the prospective government parties have agreed on a coalition treaty that is to guide their policies in the next four years. Entitled "Daring more progress - Alliance for Freedom, Justice and Sustainability," the coalition agreement between Social Democrats (SPD), Green Party, and Free Democrats (FDP) has a strong climate and energy focus, detailing steps such as a coal phase out "ideally" by 2030, and a massive expansion of renewable energies. This factsheet gives a first overview of the coalition agreement's key climate and energy points and will be updated with more detail later. --- UPDATES with more details on natural gas, CO2 pricing, heating & buildings, negative emissions, agriculture
A growing number of cities in Europe are betting on geothermal to provide households with clean heating, but the little-known renewable energy source will need more attention from Brussels in order to scale up. Since 2003, Munich features among the European cities pioneering the deployment of geothermal energy. The local utility, Stadtwerke München (SWM), already operates five geothermal plants. And in its ‘Vision 2040’ strategy, the city outlined plans to continue tapping into deep geothermal with a view to provide 100% renewable heating to residents by 2040. About 560,000 households could be powered by geothermal energy alone in two decades, the utility told German newspaper SZ.
A new framework will foster collaboration between schools and the Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family for the adoption of climate change projects and ideas
On 27 August, Berlin announced it will open the way for schoolchildren to participate in the fight against climate change. This will take the form of ‘climate agreements’ where students can submit their climate protection ideas and projects to an advisory board in the Senate Department of Education, Youth and Family. The Senate Department will then implement the projects.
Water is becoming more important as a resource, as European cities implement an increasing number of green programmes
The state parliament of Berlin passed a law that imposes an obligation on private owners of all new buildings and of those that undergo significant roof renovation to install photovoltaic systems. The rule comes into force at the beginning of 2023.
After many months of discussions, the House of Representatives in Berlin adopted the regulation that paves the way for the German city-state to reach a share of solar power in its electricity consumption of 25% as soon as possible. Photovoltaic systems will have to cover at least 30% of the roof area of all new buildings with a usable area of more than 50 square meters, starting from 2023.
The local law applies to all major roof refurbishments as well. The local authorities are also pushing for a phaseout of hard coal by 2030. Lignite was abandoned in 2017.
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