P ANORAMA DEL V ISUAL M ERCHANDISING A NIVEL INTERNACIONAL

Germany’s greenhouse gas emission reduction targets are very ambitious, and the Energiewende is embedded in the wider EU climate and energy policy structure. The aim is to reduce emissions by 40% by 2020 and 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. Germany is the largest energy consumer of all EU member states; hence, its emissions reductions effort plays an important role within the EU.

In 2013, Germany’s use of renewable energy sources avoided nearly 146 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent

Figure 19: Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions by sector, 1990-2014 and targets for 2020-2050

1122 1046 1060 1039 1036 1019 994 1002 974 977 910 945 925 931 958 920

1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2014 2020 2030 2040 2050

1,400 1,200 1,000 800 600 400 200 0

Mt CO2 - eq

Energy sector Households Transport Tertiary sector Industry Agriculture Others

2014 - 26 %

2020 target:

- 40 % 2030

target:

- 55 %

2040 target:

- 70 %

2050 target:

- 80 % – - 90 %

1250

Source: Agora, 2015b, AGEB, 2015; UBA, 2014;

greenhouse gas emissions. The electricity sector account-ed for over 105 million tonnes of CO2-eq, including around 84 million tonnes for renewable electricity that qualifies for EEG compensation. Emissions avoided amounted to nearly 36 million tonnes of CO2-eq in the heat sector and about 5 million tonnes in the transport sector. Coal for power generation is still the largest emitter (449 million tonnes of CO2-eq in 2014). The majority of the savings are in the power sector. Figure 19 shows the development of Germany´s greenhouse gas emissions by sector from 1990 to 2014, as well as the targets for 2020-2050.

Figure 20 summarises the greenhouse gas emissions avoided in the electricity, heat and transport sectors. The figures depend on the nature and scale of the renewable energy supply and on the substitution relationships.

CO2-equivalent emissions from electricity generation In Germany declined from 319 million tonnes in 2000 to

294 million tonnes in 2009, then increased to 317 million tonnes in 2013. The increased CO2 emissions are due to rising electricity exports, especially from coal power plants. In the year 2000, the electricity trade balance was neutral. In the year 2013, there was a net export of 34 TWh. During the same period, the production of renewable power rose by 114 TWh while the production of nuclear power declined by 72 TWh. Thus, renewables in Germany not only replaced the nuclear power gen-eration from eight reactors phased out since 2011, but put significant market pressure on coal and natural gas power plants.

At the national level, the BMUB (Federal Environment Ministry) supports effective climate protection measures through various programmes and projects in munici-palities, in industry, for consumers, and in schools and educational facilities. In the first half of 2015, the BMWi discussed measures for further emissions reduction.

Figure 20: Net balance of greenhouse gas emissions avoided by renewables in Germany, 2013

Greenhouse gas reductions (Mt CO

eq.)

Hydropower Wind energy

Biomass

Solar thermal energy Geothermal energy, ambient heat Solar PV

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Transport 4.8 Mt Heat 35.6 Mt Electricity 105.4 Mt

15.0 % 1.2 %

0.7 % 11.6 %

27.5 % 43.9 %

26.5 17.0 40.0 21.9

0.05

32.8 1.0

1.8

4.8

Total greenhouse gas emissions avoided 2013:

approx. 146 Mt CO₂ equivalent

Source: BMWi, 2014b

The goal of the EU ETS is to put a price on carbon emis-sions that is sufficiently high to promote investments in sustainable low-carbon technologies and to reward companies that produce more efficiently. By putting a price on carbon emissions, it becomes more attractive to use renewable energy than heavily polluting coal, for example. Moreover, companies that produce more efficiently gain a competitive advantage because they do not need to buy as many allowances and hence have lower costs than their more polluting competitors (Carbon Market Watch, 2015).

The carbon price averaged around EUR 7 per tonne of CO2 in the first half of 2015 (the low was EUR 6.01 and the high was EUR 8.01 per tonne); however, this was far too low to spur investments into efficient technologies or to encourage the use of renewable energy. The low carbon price threatens Europe’s longer-term climate objective by locking in long-lived and carbon-intensive infrastructure (Carbon Market Watch, 2015).

The low carbon price is also responsible in part for the development of new coal power plant projects between 2005 and 2008 in Germany, as these costs did not

contribute to putting economic pressure on coal. Figure 21 shows that the carbon price (for Certified Emissions Reductions – CER, and EUA) plunged from almost EUR 30 per tonne of CO2 in 2008 to as low as EUR 5 per tonne in 2014.

The huge collapse in the carbon price is the result of a continued imbalance between the supply of and demand for carbon permits. The main reasons for this are (according to Carbon Market Watch, 2015):

● Even without economic crisis, the yearly emission limits of the system were set higher than busi-ness-as-usual emissions, thereby allowing compa-nies covered by the EU ETS to even increase their emissions.

● The surplus was further exacerbated by the pos-sibility of using international offset credits in the EU ETS. In 2013, the accumulated use of offsets amounted to 1.2 billion. Offsets currently constitute more than half of the more than 2 billion excess allowances in the carbon market (see figure 22).

● EU emissions declined as the economic crisis affected industrial production and electricity Figure 21: Price development of Clean Development Mechanism offsets and EU Emissions Trading System credits, 2008-2014

Price development (EUR/t CO2)

CER price EUA price

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Source: Carbon Market Watch, 2015

Note: Clean Development Mechanism = CER price EU Emissions Tranding System Credits = EUA price

consumption. However, even if economic growth returns to pre-recession levels, emissions are un-likely to return to high levels. From 1990 to 2011, the EU’s economy grew 45%, while emissions decreased by 18.3%.

3.9 Supply security as a driver for