Use of renewable energy affect Germany leading automotive industries
Topic Question: To what extent has the increased use of renewable energy affected Germany’s leading automotive industries since 2020?
-Must include graphs explaining specific automotive industries in Germany
-Topic mainly discusses Microeconomic concepts and should be specific. Macroeconomics concepts should be explained, but mainly a Microeconomic.
-Discusses Germany’s electric car subsidy and other forms of government intervention followed by their affects.
For a long time, Germany was a pioneer in climate protection and perceived as a global role model for a successful energy transition. As early as in 2000, Germany implemented the Renewable Energy Sources Act, which supported the large-scale buildup of renewables under an expensive feed-in tariff scheme. As a result, installed solar-photovoltaic (PV) and wind capacities have soared from 6.2 gigawatts to 83.8 gigawatts between 2000 and 2015.
During this time, Germany accounted for 33 percent of the renewable buildup within the European Union. In addition, the policy has led to the creation of a considerable “green” industry: German companies used to be global champions in the production of solar-PV cells as well as wind turbines, developing cutting-edge technologies and creating jobs for several-hundred-thousand employees.
Based on this impressive trajectory, Germany set itself ambitious targets to further accelerate the energy transition. According to the plans of the federal government, significant progress in the transition to less carbon-intensive and yet still secure and affordable energy supply should be achieved by 2020. With this milestone year approaching, it is time for a comprehensive progress review.
Today’s necessary message is clear: the country misses key targets. (For more on the research underlying this article, see sidebar, “The German Energy Transition Index.”) Recent course-correction efforts by the federal government have not yet been far-reaching enough to bring lasting improvements. Meanwhile, problems are emerging in all three dimensions of the “energy triangle.” These recent struggles in Germany illustrate the potential pitfalls of a fast energy transition, but they can provide important lessons for other countries endeavoring on their energy transition.
The Energy Transition Index reflects this sluggish progress. At no point since the index’s inception has the intermediate CO2e emission target been met 100 percent, and currently this indicator stands at 61 percent. Indicators of primary energy consumption and electricity consumption also show low levels of target achievement—57 percent and 39 percent, respectively. The likelihood of reaching these targets by 2020 is therefore classified as “seriously off track.”