Carolynn Look, Petra Sorge, and Eva Brendel of Bloomberg report that energy was a key area of contention within Germany’s three-party coalition. They write:
High energy costs and an uncertain transition to cleaner fuels have been a key driver behind Germany’s exodus of industrial giants in recent years. The ruling coalition’s sudden dissolution and looming snap election will only compound the problem.
The government led by Social Democrats, Greens and Liberal Democrats — forged in the early days of the energy crisis — once found unlikely common ground in its response to soaring gas and power costs and defense spending. But Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the burden posed by high energy prices was among key areas that led to the coalition’s falling apart, with hawkish finance minister Christian Lindner opposing relief for grid fees and pushing to delay the country’s climate goals.
Germany shouldn’t have to choose between spending on its energy transition, defense or welfare, Scholz argued in a late-night address after he dismissed Lindner Wednesday. The nation is already falling behind its climate obligations for sectors like transport and buildings and could miss its 2030 targets if it doesn’t implement policy measures fast enough. […]
A snap vote “raises the possibility of a new government that may scale back Germany’s climate ambitions, including the goal of 80% power sector decarbonization by 2030 and full decarbonization by 2035 — a target we already consider challenging,” said Tancrede Fulop, an analyst at Morningstar. […]
Carsten König, head of Germany’s solar industry association, said he “expects all serious parties to make a clear commitment during the election campaign to continue the expansion of solar energy as a system-relevant, cheap and popular energy generation technology.”
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