Federal Minister for the Environment Carsten Schneider (SPD) sees the world in the middle of an energy revolution. According to Schneider to newspapers from the Funke Media Group, renewable energies enable many countries that previously could not, to build an energy supply quickly, affordably, and decentralizedly.
This is also a form of democratization. Building a nuclear power plant currently costs 20 billion Euros and takes 20 years. A large solar park can be realized in less than a year and costs a fraction of that.
The SPD politician supports the goal of the Turkish and Australian COP presidencies to establish at the climate conference in Antalya the objective that 35 percent of total end energy consumption should be covered by electricity by 2035. Schneider stated that electric cars and heat pumps are already beneficial for the climate due to their superior efficiency.
The greater the share of renewable energies in the electricity mix, the greater this advantage becomes. Schneider explained that globally, the trend is also in this direction: last year, more than 85 percent of new electricity capacity was renewable.
Schneider considers the agreement of such a goal a criterion for whether the 31st World Climate Conference will be successful. In addition to the positive effects for climate protection, he sees economic opportunities for Germany in it. The SPD politician said that if the world moves towards greater electrification, Germany could benefit greatly from it, because there are good and export-strong companies in that area.
