Buildings account for around 35 % of Germany's total final energy consumption. Residential buildings account for the largest share of buildings' energy consumption for heating, hot water, lighting, and cooling. From an energy and climate policy perspective, reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the building sector is of great importance. Economical and effective solutions contributing to the"Wärmewende", the transition to sustainable heating, can also contribute significantly to reducing energy imports.

The successful transition to sustainable heating, i.e., saving thermal energy and decarbonizing heat consumption, is highly relevant for achieving Germany's energy and climate policy goals. High savings effects for the energy raw materials natural gas and heating oil are seen not only in new buildings but above all in existing residential buildings. But what savings can be achieved with the various measures? Which investments are worthwhile for building owners? Which political decisions can support the implementation of the necessary investments?

The TAB report "Energy-saving effects in the building sector" presents concrete and practical principles and options for action. The TAB report is thus not only aimed at decision-makers in politics and housing companies but can also provide owners of multi-family and single-family houses with basic orientation.

Since 1991, the DBU has funded more than 10,000 projects with € 1.84 billion. At the same time, the foundation capital (€ 1.28 billion at the beginning) was increased to around € 2.32 billion.

Funded projects should achieve sustainable effects in practice, give impulses and lead to a “multiplier effect”. It is the objective of the DBU to contribute to the solution of current environmental problems, in particular, which result from unsustainable business practices and lifestyles. The DBU sees the crucial challenges primarily in the areas of climate change, biodiversity loss, unsustainable use of natural resources, and harmful emissions. The funding topics are linked both to current scientific findings on the Planetary Boundaries and to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

The Board of Trustees

The DBU is chaired by the Board of Trustees whose members are appointed by the Federal Government. It is composed of federal and state politicians as well as representatives of other socially relevant groups.

Fossil fuel companies have followed the example of other industries deflecting blame (think "guns don't kill people, people kill people") or greenwashing (think of the beverage industry's "Crying Indian" commercials of the 1970s). Meanwhile, they've blocked efforts to regulate or price carbon emissions, run PR campaigns aimed at discrediting viable alternatives, and have abdicated their responsibility in fixing the problem they've created. The result has been disastrous for our planet.

In The New Climate War, Mann argues that all is not lost. He draws the battle lines between the people and the polluters-fossil fuel companies, right-wing plutocrats, and petrostates. And he outlines a plan for forcing our governments and corporations to wake up and make real change, including:

• a common-sense, attainable approach to carbon pricing- and a revision of the well-intentioned but flawed currently proposed version of the Green New Deal;
• allowing renewable energy to compete fairly against fossil fuels
• debunking the false narratives and arguments that have worked their way into the climate debate and driven a wedge between even those who support climate change solutions
• combatting climate doomism and despair-mongering

Michael E. Mann is Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at Penn State, with joint appointments in the Department of Geosciences and the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute. In 2020 he was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He is the author of numerous books, including Dire Predictions, Climate Wars, and The Madhouse Effect.

Bill Nye, scientist, engineer, comedian, author, and inventor, is a man with a mission: to help foster a scientifically literate society, to help people everywhere understand and appreciate the science that makes our world work. Making science entertaining and accessible is something Bill has been doing most of his life.

• AWI: Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research
• DLR: German Aerospace Center
• FZJ: Forschungszentrum Jülich
• GEOMAR: GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
• GFZ: Helmholtz Centre Potsdam – German Research Centre for Geosciences
• HZG: Helmholtz Centre Geesthacht, Centre for Materials and Coastal Research
• KIT: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
• UFZ: Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research

The platform is coordinated at Helmholtz Centre Potsdam – German Research Centre for Geosciences.

The eskp.de website vividly conveys knowledge on the central topics of natural hazards, climate change, pollutants and the effects of the energy turnaround on the environment in the form of scientific articles, interviews, video clips, science GIFs, information graphics and more.

ESKP processes research findings for society. The range of expertise in the Research Area Earth and Environment allows complex topics to be examined from different perspectives and to be presented as a whole, in particular via the format of the “Themenspezial” (currently only in German). The contributions also point out open questions as an impulse back into the science community and provide action options. The aim is to improve the basis for decision-making in politics and society.

Founded in 2006, ITIF is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational institute—a think tank. Its mission is to formulate, evaluate, and promote policy solutions that accelerate innovation and boost productivity to spur growth, opportunity, and progress. ITIF’s goal is to provide policymakers around the world with high-quality information, analysis, and recommendations they can trust. To that end, ITIF adheres to a high standard of research integrity with an internal code of ethics grounded in analytical rigor, policy pragmatism, and independence from external direction or bias.

Focus

ITIF focuses on a host of critical issues at the intersection of technological innovation and public policy—including economic issues related to innovation, competitiveness, trade, and globalization; and technology-related issues in the areas of information technology and data, broadband telecommunications, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, agricultural biotechnology, and clean energy. (Read more about ITIF’s policy goals and values.)

Ongoing research programs and educational activities include:

• Setting the policy agenda on technology, innovation, and global competition issues by producing original research reports and analytical commentary;
• Shaping public debate by hosting events, giving speeches and presentations, providing official testimony, publishing op-eds, and serving as expert issue analysts in the news media; and
• Advising policymakers through direct interaction in Washington, D.C., and other state, national, and regional capitals around the world.

On the strength and influence of this work, the University of Pennsylvania has ranked ITIF as the world’s leading think tank for science and technology policy, and one of the top 27 U.S. think tanks overall.

Expertise

ITIF is led by its president and founder, Robert D. Atkinson, an internationally recognized policy scholar and widely published author whom The New Republic has named one of the “three most important thinkers about innovation,” Washingtonian Magazine has called a “Tech Titan,” and Government Technology Magazine has judged to be one of the 25 top “Doers, Dreamers and Drivers of Information Technology.” Under Atkinson, ITIF’s team of policy analysts and fellows includes authors and recognized experts in the fields of economics, tax policy, trade, telecommunications, privacy, cybersecurity, and life sciences, among many others.

ITIF is home to the highly regarded Center for Data Innovation, which develops and promotes policy ideas to capitalize on the tremendous economic and social benefits that data-driven innovation can offer. ITIF also launched—and spearheads—the Global Trade and Innovation Policy Alliance, an international network of think tanks that conduct evidence-based research into policies that can foster greater trade liberalization, curb “innovation mercantilism,” and encourage governments to play proactive roles in spurring innovation and productivity.

The network was established in 2006 by an international group of parliamentarians under the direction of the then-member of the German Parliament Hans-Josef Fell with the idea that zero-emission technologies and especially the field of renewable energy needed much more political advocacy in order to withstand the political influence of the conventional energy sector.

Until today, policies are often shaped by international organizations and governments heavily influenced by the conventional energy industry that profits from the status quo. The powerful fossil and nuclear industry often use science as a tool to serve their own interests, leading to an intentional underestimation of the growth potential of renewable energy and its manifold opportunities for mankind.

As an independent think-and-do-tank, we are committed to change the status quo and open new perspectives, giving a voice to objective science. We are dedicated to change political action towards 100% renewable energy and climate protection.

* The EWG is a project of the Global Eco Transition gGmbH.

How do we stimulate the investment needed to create a sustainable and digital Europe when economies are in crisis? What lessons can we draw from Europe’s first paradigm-changing financial initiative, the EFSI? How can we build on it and ensure its successor InvestEU will be efficient, fast and well targeted in its support?

Speakers include:

Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice President for An Economy that Works for People, European Commission

Marcel Fratzscher, President, DIW Berlin

Werner Hoyer, President, European Investment Bank Group

Mariana Mazzucato, University College London

ITIF hosted a transatlantic discussion of EV battery policy and how cooperation and competition might best be balanced for this “industry of the future” that’s already here.

Speakers 

David M. Hart

Senior Fellow, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

Moderator

Rob Boyle

Senior Policy Analyst, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

Stephen Gifford

Chief Economist, Faraday Institution

Danny Kennedy

President, CalCharge

Ilka von Dalwigk

Policy Manager, EIT InnoEnnergy

The COVID-19 pandemic has only reinforced the urgency of the strategy. EU Heads of States have agreed that the European Green Deal is one foundation of the post-COVID-19 economic recovery. Despite the recession, the European Commission under the leadership of Ursula von der Leyen will present a comprehensive plan to increase the EU's climate target to at least 50 per cent and as much as 55 per cent by 2030. This will inevitably require a faster lignite phase-out than previously planned because of all the fossil fuels lignite is the most CO2-intensive. In this light, Agora Energiewende and Forum Energii have jointly commissioned a study to Aurora Energy Research to look at the effects of the withdrawal from lignite in Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany in parallel by assessing the consequences for the power sector and answering the following questions: - How will security of supply be ensured after lignite power is shut down? - Who will be an importer and who will be an exporter of electricity in the region? How will electricity flows change? - How will CO2 emissions change? - What will be the costs of eliminating coal from the energy mix and how will it affect wholesale energy prices? On 3 September we will focus on the key results with regards to the Czech Republic digging deeper into the question, which challenges arise from phasing out lignite in the Czech power sector. The virtual event targets experts working on the Czech power sector. It will be held in English and includes a Q & A session.

This series of online events offers an opportunity for Parties and other stakeholders to continue exchanging views and sharing information in order to maintain momentum in the UNFCCC process and to showcase how climate action is progressing under the special circumstances the world is currently facing.

This will include advancing technical work under the constituted bodies, as well as providing a platform for information exchange and engagement on other work being done under the UNFCCC, including on adaptation, mitigation, science, finance, technology, capacity-building, transparency, gender, Action on Climate Empowerment, and the preparation and submission of nationally determined contributions. Formal negotiations and decision-making are not envisaged for these events; they will take place at the SB sessions in October of this year.

On the occasion of this year’s 20th anniversary of the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), the Berlin-based Think-and-Do Tank Energy Watch Group (EWG) presents a legislative proposal to stimulate the system integration of renewable energy. The underlying purpose of the policy proposal is to allow renewable energy sources to finally assume responsibility for the system security of the power supply – i.e. to cover the required energy demand at every hour of the year. With a so-called combined power plant tariff, the instrument intends to stimulate investments for full demand coverage by 100% renewable energy. Based on own techno-economic cost estimates and a legal examination of EU regulations, the EWG proposes a fixed-feed-in-tariff of 8 cents/kWh, supported by a sliding market premium.

While renewables keep setting records in terms of their shares of national electricity mixes – Germany has recently hit the 50% mark –, a full transformation to an entirely renewable-based energy system is not yet widely regarded to be a tangible reality. One of the main reasons is the prevailing mistrust of the ability of renewables to provide year-round supply. Many scientific studies have already shown that a complete conversion to renewables is not only critical for reasons of climate protection, but also that it is technologically feasible (in combination with storage technologies and digital control technology) at any hour of the year and at cost-effective prices. What is still missing, however, is a legal basis to enable the market penetration of reliable and adequate 100% renewable energy systems.

SPEAKERS

Florian Bieberbach is the Chief Executive Officer of Stadtwerke München. Bieberbach is president of CEDEC, the European Association of Local Energy Companies, and vice president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Munich and Upper Bavaria. At TUM School of Management he serves as an honorary professor for energy markets and he is chairman of Forschungsstelle für Energiewirtschaft e.V., an energy research institution.

Juliet Davenport is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Good Energy – a renewable energy company with a mission to power a greener, cleaner future together with its customers. Davenport has been an innovator for over 20 years, working on ideas to fight climate change and transform the energy sector for the better. In 2013, she was awarded an OBE for services to renewables.

Rasita Chudasama is the Principal Transport Planner for Nottingham City Council and is heading up the city’s ambitious £6.1million Go Ultra Low City programme. She previously developed Nottingham’s transport policy and more recently delivered the £16m Local Sustainable Transport Fund programme aimed at promoting more walking, cycling and public transport use.

Keith Townsend is the Corporate Director of Environment and Regeneration at Islington Council. He currently acts as chief technical advisor to the West London Waste Authority and is a Commissioner for the Mayor of London’s Green Spaces Commission.

Proponents of clean energy alternatives struggle to present convincing narratives on the coal-to-clean energy transition in national debates in the region. Power market reforms are introduced at a slow pace and regional integration and cooperation remains a serious challenge. As a result, RES deployment remains far below the economically viable potential. This conference aims to look at some of the burning questions surrounding the ongoing reforms in the energy sector in Europe, assessing the status quo and discussing options and requirements for finally moving towards a decarbonised energy future. It shall support a fact-based dialogue on the energy transition in Southeast Europe and create a space for making inclusive alliances comprised of governments, EU institutions, utilities, think-tanks, NGOs and citizens.

To discuss the report and its findings during the event, Claude Turmes, Minister for Energy & Spatial Planning, Luxemburg, and Patrick Graichen, Executive Director of Agora Energiewende, were joined by a prestigious line-up of leading EU decision-makers: Sami Andoura (EU Commission), Aurélie Beauvais (SolarPower Europe), Eva Chamizo Llatas (Iberdrola), Giles Dickson (WindEurope), Fiona Hall (eceee), Susanne Nies (ENTSO-E), William Todts (Transport&Environment), Robert van der Meer (HeidelbergCement), Paul Voss (Euroheat&Power), and James Watson (Eurogas).

The recent IPCC report emphasises that climate-related risks are significantly more dangerous to human life and to the systems that sustain us at 2^oC warming compared with 1.5^oC. Yet global action is lagging, stymied by political meandering. To avoid the worst outcomes, global carbon emissions must be cut by half by 2030 and to zero by 2050 – an unprecedented task which requires bold and compelling action. The Club of Rome – Climate Emergency Plan proposes ten action points to achieve the goal set by the historic Paris Agreement, aligned with science and economic pragmatism, to limit temperature increase to 1.5^oC.

To avoid further collapse of environmental, political and socio-economic systems, urgent leadership is required now from governments, industry and citizens. Climate change is no longer a future threat. It is already affecting billions of people across the globe and every economy. Annual losses for the US alone will reach hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century, according to the new US Climate Assessment and continued climate related impacts could create 140 million climate migrants globally by 2050.

The Club of Rome in its seminal 1972 report The Limits to Growth alerted the world to the environmental and demographic challenges. The central message was that the quest for unlimited growth in population, material goods and resources, on a finite planet, would eventually result in the collapse of its economic and environmental systems. That prediction is clearly manifesting in the climate change crisis awe are confronted with today.

The Climate Emergency Plan of the Club of Rome was launched on December 4th 2018 at the European Parliament. You can download the full report here.

Germany consumes some 1.3 billion tonnes of fossil fuels, minerals, ores and biomass per year. UBA's Use of Natural Resources Report claims that the majority of raw material consumption is non-metallic minerals (45%), fossil fuels (29%) and biomass (21%). Although raw material consumption in Germany is becoming more and more efficient thanks to industry efforts and total raw material productivity has increased by 26% since 2000, Germany has an excessively high level of raw material consumption compared to other countries: 10% higher than the average in Europe, and even 100% higher than the global average. More than half of the raw materials consumed for the production of goods is sourced from abroad.

The Methodological Convention for Estimating Environmental Costs 3.0 included a large number of parameters to calculate the costs of environmental pollution. This included the costs of restoring damaged building and infrastructures, of the market value of crop losses and production losses, as well as the sum which people would be prepared to pay for the avoidance of damage to their health. The Methodological Convention 3.0 helps to compare and contrast the costs of environmental pollution and the costs of environmental protection.

Panellists:

• Riccardo Mastini, Friends of the Earth Europe, campaigner Resource justice and sustainability
• Blake Alcott, Cambridge University, Author of The Jevons Paradox and the Myth of Resource Efficiency Improvements
• Fulvia Raffaëlli, European Commission, DG GROW, Head of Unit responsible for Clean Technologies and Products
• Philippe Tulkens, European Commission, DG Research & Innovation, Energy Directorate, Deputy Head of Unit
• Peter Zapfel, European Commission, DG CLIMA, ETS Policy Development and Auctioning

Climate protection is important. And the goal for Germany is clear: From over 11 tonnes of CO₂-equivalent to less than 1 tonne of CO₂-equivalent per person and year. This is the position of the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) in line with the international community of states. We still have a lot to do in order to achieve this goal. And ultimately we'll only get there if we have effective government framework conditions.

But today we can already take the lead as individuals. We can already avoid not only kilograms but tonnes of carbon - both when it comes to our own emissions (our carbon footprint) as well as when it comes to helping others avoid emissions (our carbon handprint). The UBA Carbon Calculator will help you keep track: Where do you stand today? What are the main tools at your disposal? What contribution can you make to climate protection in future?

Please note: Calculations only apply to the German context. Using the calculator while living in other countries will only give you some indication of your footprint, the actual values might differ substantially.

Emissions from shared amenities such as heating and electricity are automatically divided by the number of members in your household. Only in the case of car rides you have to make this allocation yourself, as only you can estimate the way you share.