German energy transition (Energiewende) and what politicians can learn for environmental and climate policy
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ORIGINAL PAPER
German energy transition (Energiewende) and what politicians can learn for environmental and climate policy Rudolf Rechsteiner1 Received: 29 May 2020 / Accepted: 28 August 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract The German Energiewende (energy transition) started with price guarantees for avoidance activities and later turned to premiums and tenders. Dynamic efficiency was a core concept of this environmental policy. Out of multiple technologies wind and solar power—which were considered too expensive at the time—turned out to be cheaper than the use of oil, coal, gas or nuclear energy for power generation, even without considering externalities. The German minimum price policy opened doors in a competitive way, creating millions of new generators and increasing the number of market participants in the power sector. The fact that these new generators are distributed, non-synchronous and weather-dependent has caused contentious discussions and specific challenges. This paper discusses these aspects in detail and outlines its impacts. It also describes Swiss regulations that successfully launched avoidance technologies or services and asks why exactly Pigou’s neoclassical economic approach to the internalization of damage costs (externalities) has rarely worked in policy reality, while sectorspecific innovations based on small surcharges have been more successful. Based on the model of feed-in tariffs, a concept for the introduction of low-carbon air traffic is briefly outlined.
In memory of Hermann Scheer (1944–2010).
* Rudolf Rechsteiner rechsteiner@re‑solution.ch 1
Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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R. Rechsteiner
Graphic Abstract
Keywords Energy policy · Pigou tax · clean flying · German environmental policy · dynamic efficiency · Swiss environmental policy
Introduction The continuous increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is a cause for concern to many people engaged in environmental policy. The situation is similar to the 1980s when young people opposing the nuclear arms race and nuclear power plants faced an uphill battle, even after the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl accidents caused the spread of radiation and radioactive fallout.
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The following essay is written by an economist who, as a member of national and cantonal Parliaments for 30 years (1988–2018), has tried to put economic instruments at the heart of environmental policy. It addresses policy strategies in Germany and Switzerland that decisively launched the development of avoidance strategies, industries and processes. The German Energiewende (energy transition) was an exemplary model of a new policy approach and caused
German energy transition (Energiewende) and what politicians can learn for environmental…
Fig. 1 Production costs of electricity from new renewable energies and batteries (BNEF 2020)
a fierce reduction in the cost of electricity generation by renewable energy sources, as explained in “The German Energiewende (energy transition): a successf
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