Incorporating the German Energiewende into a comprehensive European approach (2015)

In order to mitigate global warming, as many countries as possible must strive to make their energy supply systems more sustainable. It is up to the EU to establish an integrated energy and climate policy as an internationally compatible system. In their position paper, acatech – National Academy of Science and Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Union of the German Academies of Sciences therefore advocate the closer integration of the German energy transition into the European energy and climate policy scheme. The European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) should be developed as the leading political instrument for climate protection. However, the current price for emissions allowances is too low to encourage further investment in climate-friendly technologies. The academies therefore recommend a fixed price corridor defining a minimum and a maximum price for allowance auctions. For the industry, such security regarding the future price development would be a strong incentive for innovation. Moreover, emissions trading should be extended to further sectors such as transportation and the agricultural sector and should be linked with the emissions trading systems of other economic areas. Until the ETS has been thus reformed, the national support schemes for renewable energy should be gradually harmonised across Europe. The rising share of renewable energy also affects the EU’s internal electricity market. The position paper outlines ways to secure the future power supply in a common market and to set incentives for optimising the siting of power generation plants.