High energy costs accelerate the conversion

Dusseldorf, Berlin The energy crisis is accelerating the green transformation of industry in Germany. 72 percent of medium-sized companies have recently invested in green energy sources or are planning such investments in the short term. In doing so, they primarily want to reduce their dramatically increased energy costs, but they also modernize their systems in this way.

This is shown by a study by the opinion research institute Forsa among 152 medium-sized companies on behalf of the consulting firm FTI-Andersch and the University of Lüneburg, which is available exclusively to the Handelsblatt. “The energy crisis is leading to a green boost in German SMEs,” says FTI Andersch consultant Steffen Puhlmann. 40 percent of medium-sized companies would even completely rule out a return to fossil raw materials.

The high energy costs have put companies under pressure to act. At just under 130 euros per megawatt hour, the gas price is 188 percent above the previous year’s value, while the price of electricity on the exchange rose from 100 to 237 euros. With such costs, investments in renewable energies are worthwhile for more and more companies.