Good morning, dear readers,
are solar cells the new pipeline gas? “There is an inescapable dependence on China that cannot be denied. And that is significantly greater than the dependency on Russia when it comes to gas,” said a high-ranking manager from the solar industry to the Handelsblatt. No exaggerated comparison – more than 80 percent of the global production capacity for solar energy is in China. By the beginning of 2022, on the other hand, only a good half of the natural gas required in Germany came via pipeline from Russia.
In a letter to the Federal Ministry of Economics, 24 companies from the industry have now drawn up a plan to breathe new life into the European solar industry. Signatories include energy companies such as Eon and solar giants such as Wacker Chemie. They demand government intervention. Germany needs more solar energy and therefore more production of solar technology. What is required is “plannable financial support in relation to investments, for example via the state development bank KfW”.
An analysis by the German Energy Agency (Dena) on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economics, which we reported on yesterday in the morning briefing, also states: The Federal Government should “at least ensure that sufficient capital is available for the successful revival of a European photovoltaic industry”.
I would be even more sympathetic to the demands of the solar industry if she emphasized in her letter: “Don’t worry, we’ll manage the investments on our own. What we urgently need are fair market conditions, planning security in energy policy, fast approval procedures and sufficient skilled workers.”
(Photo: IMAGO/Sylvio Dittrich)
The World Bank will soon have one less specialist. The President of the United Nations Development Bank, David Malpass, surprisingly announced his resignation for the end of June. According to a statement by the World Bank, he wants to face new challenges after “a lot of progress and careful consideration.
What you say when you’ve talked about your head and neck. In September, the US economist dodged questions about whether burning fossil fuels contributes to global warming. Instead, Malpass had said, “I’m not a scientist.” He later went into damage control and said he regretted his choice of words. Malpass came into office in 2019 during the tenure of former US President Donald Trump at his suggestion.
(Photo: AP)
We remain in the department “explosive statements with weak evidence”. Last week, an online article by controversial US journalist Seymour Hersh caused a stir. Citing an anonymous source, Hersh claims that the Nord Stream pipelines were blown up by the US government, which had fiercely fought Nord Stream 2 in particular.
However, some evidence speaks against Hersh’s thesis. There are small details that our Brussels office manager Moritz Koch has compiled. For example, the type of aircraft that, according to Hersh, is said to have dropped the ignition mechanism for the detonation during a routine flight, was not in use over the Baltic Sea at the time in question. And there are big question marks – especially about the motive: why would the US blow up the pipeline at a time when Germany had already decided to phase out Russian gas supplies?
Russia, on the other hand, had a motive: the fact that only one Nord Stream 2 pipe remained undamaged would have enabled Moscow in an energy emergency to offer Germany rescue gas supplies and possibly force Nord Stream 2 to go online.
Conclusion: It remains with hypotheses. What would really help: If Sweden and Denmark would lift the secrecy of their investigation results into the pipeline detonation. Until then, the case remains an unsolved mystery – with plenty of political explosives.
A systemically important bank that writes billions in losses. Customers who run away with their assets. A share price and ratings plummeting. We’re not talking about Deutsche Bank in 2016. We’re talking about Credit Suisse here and now. A comparison by our bank reporter Yasmin Osman shows how precarious the situation of the major Swiss bank is.
Similar to what happened at Deutsche Bank, scandals are damaging the business of Credit Suisse. The downgraded ratings and high risk premiums on credit derivatives are bad for investment banking and wealth management. Credit Suisse’s risk premiums are many times higher than those of its competitors.
At Deutsche Bank, customers withdrew a double-digit billion sum in response to the uncertainty at the time. The Swiss are now doing the same. And the share price since the financial crisis also shows a frightening parallel: Credit Suisse has lost 95 percent of its market value, Deutsche Bank 86 percent. Only the last section of the course shows the difference: Deutsche Bank seems to have survived the biggest mess, Credit Suisse is still in the middle of it.
If the United Nations ever plans a World Professional Indemnity Day, Valentine’s Day is the obvious date. At the very least, we can only hope that the construction workers who used a concrete drill to cut an underground fiber optic cable on Tuesday night were well insured. Which, among other things, paralyzed a Lufthansa data center. Which in turn led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights on Wednesday.
The case leaves IT experts at a loss. In the case of critical infrastructures, connections from three independent network operators are common, said Andreas Weiss from Eco, the Association of the German Internet Industry: “Normally it is not possible for all systems to be paralyzed when a single cable is cut.”
After all, late on Wednesday afternoon, Lufthansa tweeted: “Flight operations are expected to be as scheduled as possible for Thursday.”
A message that actually has news value this week. Because on Friday, a Verdi warning strike will again largely paralyze flight operations in Germany.
I wish you a day to take a moment to think about whether you need professional liability insurance, and if so, whether you have one.
Best regards
Your Christian Rickens
Editor-in-Chief Handelsblatt
