How much influence the gas lobby has in Germany

Berlin The Bundestag’s new lobby register has been in existence for a year. An initial evaluation of the data on the gas industry shows that companies such as Eon and Uniper invest large sums in their lobbying activities. They come very close to the financial sector, which has the largest budgets among the top 100 lobbyists.

The Lobbycontrol association specifically took a look at the gas market in a study. According to this, the lobby register contains 74 companies and twelve lobby associations that are active in the gas sector. Together they spend around 40 million euros a year on lobbying and employ 426 lobbyists.

Previously, there was a recent investigation by the citizens’ movement Finanzwende on the financial sector. According to this, the top 10 corporations and associations in the financial lobby spend more than 42.5 million euros a year on maintaining contacts in politics. The financial sector leads the ranking in lobbying spending.

However, according to Lobbycontrol, several energy and gas companies are among the players with the largest lobby budgets: Eon in seventh place, Uniper in tenth place and RWE in 20th place, followed by EnBW in 21st place. BASF is the largest industrial company Gas consumers in third place and Siemens Energy as an important plant manufacturer for the gas industry in ninth place.

Christina Deckwirth, co-author of the study, said: “Our figures show that the lobbying power of the gas industry is huge.” That is why politicians must “more proactively integrate voices from science and civil society, who warn of further dependencies, into political decision-making processes”.

Intense contacts between the gas industry and politics during the energy crisis

The study also shows that the lobbying budgets of energy companies and their associations eclipse other gas stakeholders, including environmental groups, consumer groups and small and medium-sized enterprises.

The three largest German environmental organizations that work on the subject of gas, among other things – Deutsche Umwelthilfe, Greenpeace and BUND – spend around 1.55 million euros a year on lobbying. According to the lobby register, the three organizations together employ between 83 and 110 lobbyists.

The lobby register is intended to make visible who is influencing political decisions and legislation. Professional stakeholders must register there. There are currently exceptions for trade unions, employers’ associations and churches, among others.

Among other things, the lobbyists must provide information about their clients and subject areas as well as the personnel and financial costs of their lobbying activities in the Bundestag and the Federal Government. They are obliged to adhere to a specified code of conduct. Violations of this can result in a fine of up to 50,000 euros.

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Within a year, more than 5500 companies, associations, organizations, networks, individuals and others have registered in the register. The number of designated employees who represent their interests directly is more than 13,000.

This also includes lobby control. The association is also listed in the register. A budget of 360,000 to 370,000 euros per year is specified, with seven employees who represent interests directly.

Even if the organizations of the environmental and climate movement can hardly keep up with the gas lobby with their comparatively small budgets, they were able to improve their influence in politics with the participation of the Greens in government.

Bundestag

For a year now, lobbyists have had to register in the Bundestag. The energy sector is particularly busy in Berlin, as a recent study shows.

(Photo: dpa)

For example, former Greenpeace chief Jennifer Morgan is a special representative for international climate policy at the Federal Foreign Office. The former managing director of the influential think tank Agora Energiewende works with Patrick Graichen as State Secretary for the Economics and Climate Protection Ministry of Department Head Robert Habeck (Greens).

Crisis since Russian war of aggression

Contacts between the gas industry and politics have recently been very intensive – above all because of the current events and the associated challenges. After the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine almost a year ago, the federal government acted in a permanent crisis mode. She had to solve a number of problems and make serious decisions in order to secure the energy supply.

In July 2022, for example, the federal government got involved with the ailing energy company Uniper as part of a rescue package worth billions. Before that, there were numerous meetings between the group and state secretaries from the Ministry of Economics and the Chancellery. This emerges from a response from the federal government to a small request from the left-wing faction.

The document gives a good insight into the government’s close cooperation with the gas industry in its first year of government and shows how the number of meetings has multiplied. In the period from mid-December 2021 to mid-September 2022, representatives of gas companies met more than 260 times with representatives of the federal government.

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