So far, the minister has been unhappy on the subject of EU taxonomy.
(Photo: imago images / Political-Moments)
The debate about the EU taxonomy reveals a problem for the Greens that in the medium term can lead to damage to the foundation of the traffic light coalition. Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) has it in hand to prevent the worst. So far he’s been acting unhappy. He is moving away from the spirit of the coalition agreement.
Sections of the Greens, and especially the activists of Fridays for Future and other climate protection organizations, read the EU Commission’s proposals for including natural gas in the EU taxonomy as if natural gas would be glorified there as a savior on the way to climate neutrality.
But that is by no means the case. Rather, the proposals can be interpreted very differently: The bar for the use of natural gas is set extremely high. Two examples: For plants that are approved after 2030, according to the ideas of the EU Commission, only up to 100 grams of CO2 emissions per kilowatt hour of electricity should be permitted – calculated over the life cycle. A modern gas-fired power plant weighs 350 grams. It does not take a lot of imagination to estimate that reaching the 100 gram limit will be extremely challenging.
And from 2026 at least 30 percent CO2-free fuels, such as green hydrogen, must be used in gas-fired power plants, according to the EU Commission. This value is not only ambitious, it is simply unimaginable. So far, green hydrogen has only been included in the plans of politics and business. It is more than questionable whether the corresponding production capacities will be built and the associated infrastructure will be in place in just under five years.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
Robert Habeck knows all this too. Nevertheless, he presents things as if it were a surprise that the EU Commission is ready to accept natural gas as a bridging technology and as if the Commission wanted to encourage inflationary use of natural gas. It is “questionable” whether natural gas can be included in the taxonomy, says Habeck.
The Greens are under pressure
That is in contradiction to the coalition agreement. There it is said that they want to accelerate the construction of modern gas-fired power plants. Habeck’s remarks on taxonomy suggest the opposite.
Habeck’s pricks against the classification of gas can easily be explained politically. The party leadership is under pressure. The party base has the general suspicion that the negotiators of the Greens allowed themselves to be ripped off in the coalition negotiations between the SPD and FDP. And activists like Fridays for Future would like to have phased out the use of natural gas by 2035. The Green Youth, the Greens’ youth organization, too, by the way. An adventurous course.
The higher the bar for gas-fired power plants, the more expensive it is to use. Either the power plants are used as the last systems in the entire power plant portfolio and drive the price level to unimagined heights; We have already got a foretaste of it in the past few weeks. Or investments in gas-fired power plants are not made, and the state has to adjust it with investment aid.
In any case, the bill is paid by electricity customers and taxpayers. The burdens that result from this are incalculable. The most recent price fluctuations have already led industrial companies to cut back or even stop their production.
As Minister of Economic Affairs, Habeck must have an interest in bringing climate protection, price stability and security of supply under one roof. At the moment, however, it looks as if he wants to enforce climate protection at the highest possible cost, ignoring affordability and secure supplies. There is no more inefficient way to protect the climate. The other two coalition partners cannot support this course.
More: How the EU taxonomy diverts taxpayers’ money