Ahead of a planned cabinet discussion regarding the amendment of the Energy Efficiency Act, the Wirtschaftsrat der CDU, an interest group linked to the CDU, has warned about the severe consequences the proposed changes could inflict upon German businesses.
Wolfgang Steiger, General Secretary of the association, told the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” (Mittwochausgabe) that the required savings target “would only be achievable through a contraction of the German economy,” adding that “in the current economic situation, no serious party would ever want that.”
The government is committed to its goal of reducing Germany’s final energy consumption by at least 26.5 percent compared to the year 2008, aiming for a maximum final energy consumption of 1,867 terawatt-hours by 2030. Final energy refers to the amount-such as electricity or heat-that actually reaches the customer after primary energy sources like crude oil, gas, water, or wind have been converted. Specifically, the demand for oil and gas can be reduced while maintaining performance through better heat insulation, heat pumps, and electric cars. Previously, the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce had estimated that a nine percent drop in gross domestic product would be necessary to meet the target of 1,867 terawatt-hours.
Steiger dismissed the so-called “energy cap” as a “relic of the planned economy” that should be abolished. Furthermore, he argued that a rigid target value is inherently meaningless when the share of green energy is projected to constantly increase.
He explained that the expansion of data centers for energy-intensive AI applications, for instance, should not be subject to a cap if those centers are powered by green electricity. Steiger stated that “if electricity increasingly comes from CO2-low sources, a rigid limitation on energy consumption loses its climate policy justification.” He emphasized that emissions, not kilowatt-hours consumed, should be the deciding factor, pointing out that there is already separate regulation in place to limit climate-damaging CO2. He demanded that the government revise its stance and immediately remove the “superfluous energy cap.”
In the context of international climate efforts, 198 countries committed at the 2023 World Climate Conference in Dubai to double the energy efficiency rate by 2030. The governing coalition had mandated federal and state governments to achieve annual final energy savings of 50 terawatt-hours by 2030. Additionally, companies with energy consumption exceeding 15 gigawatt-hours were required to implement energy or environmental management systems and create concrete plans for implementing economically efficient energy measures. The governing coalition currently seeks to weaken the previous government’s law by scaling it down to the level of the EU’s energy efficiency directive.
