SPD's Carsten Schneider Sees World in Middle of Energy Revolution
Federal Minister for the Environment Carsten Schneider (SPD) sees the world in the middle of an energy revolution. He told the newspapers of the Funke media group that renewable energies could enable many countries that previously could not to quickly, cost-effectively, and decentralize build an energy supply.
This is also a form of democratization: Building a nuclear power plant costs 20 billion euros today and takes 20 years. A large solar park can be realized in less than a year and costs a fraction of that.
The SPD politician supports the goal put forward by the Turkish and Australian COP presidencies to anchor the target that 35 percent of total energy consumption should be covered by electricity by 2035 at the climate conference in Antalya. Schneider said that electric cars and heat pumps are already good for the climate due to their superior efficiency.
The greater the share of renewable energies in the electricity mix, the greater this advantage will be. Globally, the trend is also in this direction: Last year, more than 85 percent of new electricity capacity was renewable, Schneider explained.
Schneider calls the agreement of such a goal a criterion for whether the 31st World Climate Conference will be successful. In addition to positive effects for climate protection, he also sees economic opportunities for Germany in it. If the world moves toward more electrification, Germany can benefit greatly from it, said the SPD politician. This is because the country has good and highly exportable companies in this area.
