With the prospect of a triumphant advance in electromobility, a furious boom in battery factories is developing in Europe. CATL, Samsung and LG Chem from Asia are already manufacturing in Eastern Europe, Tesla is planning a huge workshop in Brandenburg, Northvolt is attacking from Sweden. Stellantis, Daimler and Total have teamed up to build batteries.
A total of 40 projects are planned in Europe by 2031, 17 of which would be financed with almost 26 billion euros. The money comes from the federal and state governments. As you all know: The basic material lithium is in short supply and is absolutely needed.
The start-up Vulcan Energy has already announced that it will mine the valuable lithium for days in the Upper Rhine Graben, as our cover story reveals. Renault believes in this supplier: for the period after 2026, the car manufacturer has secured 17,000 tons of lithium from Vulcan annually. The “battery bubble” shows that the real battle for the future of the car is taking place far away from the PR fireworks of the car showrooms.
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The big board game of the CDU is called: “Who will be the boss?”. The big people’s party, which recently lost the people, is apparently enjoying the gamification of politics so much that it is now looking for new leadership for the third time in three years. Everything is in the jackpot: party chairmanship, parliamentary group chairmanship, general secretariat, vice-chiefs, presidium, the whole nomenclature. The district chairmen have already decided in advance that the candidates have to go to the Bütt before the base.
Friedrich Merz (r.) And Carsten Linnemann push the party leadership.
The board of directors will decide today when that happens. The only thing that is certain is that the long-term applicant Friedrich Merz, 65, will get another chance at “Who will be the boss?” Now in a business tandem with young talent Carsten Linnemann, 44. Norbert Röttgen, 56, will also be involved with a team. Jens Spahn, 41, who is considered not particularly socially capable, as well as parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus, is unlikely to have a chance despite the greatest ambition and even greater self-perception among the CDU members.
For example, after the Angela Merkel era, the CDU sang “It’s a Man’s World” with James Brown at the top of his throat – even if Schleswig-Holstein’s Minister of Education, Karin Prien, 56, is likely to rise.
New bosses are also being sought in the SPD, at the end of the day there was a rare calm in the traditional party after the success in the Bundestag election. But Norbert Walter-Borjans, 69, has had enough after two years and his co-chair, Saskia Esken, 60, is pushing the red-yellow-green ministerial cabinet, commonly known as the traffic light.
Since aspiring Chancellor Olaf Scholz – also known as “Olaf Schulz” to the US authorities – himself has declared that he will be renouncing the chairmanship of the party, speculation is currently growing on Secretary General Lars Klingbeil and the Schwerin Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig as a duet. Even if nothing is fixed here: the whole thing could easily expand into a troika.
At the political conference of enthusiastic, wait-and-see or tactical climate protectors in Glasgow, Scotland, the number of appeals is much greater than the number of foreseeable solutions. Most impressive is an open letter from leading climate activists around the Swede Greta Thunberg to the leaders of the state. He found more than 1.1 million supporters in a very short time.
In the appeal, Thunberg & Co call for the climate crisis to be countered with drastic measures and regard the previous policy as “betrayal”. The world is “catastrophically far” from the goal of the Paris World Climate Agreement of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial times.
“Change does not come from in there,” Thunberg said in front of demonstrators in Glasgow. The participating politicians only pretend that they care about the future of young people. Instead, billions would be invested in fossil fuels – “red alert” for the battered planet.
The representatives of the political system who appeared on Monday – 200 countries are among them – weigh wise words, but it is a long time to act. Chancellor Angela Merkel made a committed plea for the Paris Agreement to be implemented and for a global carbon price. This is the best way to get the industry to find the best technological ways to achieve climate neutrality: “We are not where we need to be.”
Of course, everyone was on the front lines verbally, Joe Biden from Washington as well as Jair Bolsonaro from Brasilia. But the bottom line was said by Prince Charles: industry and banks would have trillions to drive the transformation forward. The British heir to the throne could easily have mentioned funds and shadow banks.
Nobody can say that journalism lacks self-portraits, pharaohs and pistoleros. Bettina Gaus was alien to any kind of fistfight, she wanted to convince through knowledge, through reason and the ability to debate. That made the woman, who had been with the “taz” for 30 years and often appeared on radio and television, to the sought-after voice.
Africa was important to the daughter of the former “Spiegel” editor-in-chief Günter Gaus, since she was active for Deutsche Welle in Nairobi at a young age. Most recently she worked as a columnist in her father’s ex-paper. She was always independent, always surprising, always an advocate for social justice, and sometimes diva-like. The flagship journalist died on Wednesday at the age of 64 after a short, serious illness.
We are interested in your opinion on the Glaswegian summit about the climate fiasco. In your opinion, what are the greatest levers for saving the planet? What can we do in this country – and what has to be done in other countries? Should Germany play a pioneering role? Write us your opinion in four or five sentences [email protected]. We will publish selected contributions on Thursday in print and online, with attribution.
A little provocation helps when you have a broad-coverage TV station available. That’s what David Beasley, director of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) thought. He asked via CNN Tesla boss Elon Musk – one of the richest in the world – to donate six billion dollars against hunger in the world. That would help 42 million people at risk of death.
“It’s not complicated,” says Beasley, that is only around two percent of Musk’s total fortune. The major Tesla shareholder replied quickly: If WFP could describe exactly how all that money would eliminate hunger, “I will sell Tesla shares immediately.” Charles Dickens comments: “Wishes are never wise. That’s actually the best thing about them. ”
(Photo: NIXDORF Kapital AG)
And then there is Dagmar Nixdorf, niece of the computer pioneer Heinz Nixdorf, who makes a name for herself as an investor. Together with other celebrities from the business world, for example from the Hopp (SAP) and Piëch (VW) families, she wants to collect two billion euros to invest in the green economy and sustainable companies. Impact investing and social returns are her key words: “We have set out to make the world a little better”.
Nixdorf Kapital Impact Fund joins the start-up Vytal, which has developed an app for a reusable circulatory system in the catering industry. The investor feels obliged to her great uncle Heinz, whose computer company was once one of the Dax founding members. One of his guiding principles was: “Before heaven comes life on earth, it is important to build a social society.”
I wish you a wonderful day.
I warmly greet you
you
Hans-Jürgen Jakobs
Senior editor
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