As State Secretary, Graichen can put his ideas into practice.
(Photo: Marko Priske for Handelsblatt)
Berlin Hardly any think tank has worked so hard in recent years to advance the energy and climate transition. In the months leading up to the federal elections in September in particular, “Agora Energiewende” repeatedly presented very specific recommendations for action. That was of course not a coincidence, but an attempt to make it clear in the run-up to the elections where the journey must go.
Patrick Graichen is responsible for this type of policy advice, usually with a high public profile and gladly presented together with other think tanks such as the Climate Neutrality Foundation.
Graichen can now put his ideas, all the proposed immediate measures, concepts and programs into practice: As Robert Habeck’s (Greens) State Secretary in the future Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection, he will be responsible for climate and energy policy. He will take over the tasks of the current State Secretary for Economic Affairs, Andreas Feicht, and at least a substantial part of the tasks of the current State Secretary for the Environment, Jochen Flasbarth.
It could be a blessing for the industry that Habeck’s choice fell on Graichen. Because very early on, Agora Energiewende pointed out that the transformation of industry to climate neutrality can only succeed with massive support from the state. This can be read, for example, in a comprehensive study that Agora Energiewende presented in 2019 together with the Wuppertal Institute.
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There the high investment requirements of the steel and chemical industries are described in detail. The instrument of differential agreements, which the future federal government will have to deal with in the coming months, takes up a large part of the study.
Graichen has been the successor to Rainer Baake and head of “Agora Energiewende” since 2014. The think tank, which is essentially financed by two foundations, is practical. According to its own statements, Agora acts “independently of economic and party political interests and is exclusively committed to climate protection”. However, the think tank speaks from the heart of politicians who belong to the Realo wing of the Greens.
Graichen knows his way around the ministerial bureaucracy. Before moving to “Agora Energiewende” in 2012, he worked for over a decade in the Federal Environment Ministry. Graichen studied economics in Heidelberg and Cambridge in the UK and did his doctorate on an energy policy topic at the University of Heidelberg.
More: This is how Habeck sets up his ministry