The Öko-Institut’s homework list for countries, regions and municipalities is long – and expensive. According to the Freiburg experts, the country is well on the way to becoming climate neutral by 2040, but it is neither fast nor ambitious enough.
Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) – According to the Öko-Institut in Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg can achieve its climate goals, but it must expand its energy resources faster and much more ambitiously. Among other things, wind energy and photovoltaics would have to be expanded five to ten times as quickly and extensively as in the past ten years, according to a study by the institute on behalf of the Federal Agency for the Environment and Nature Conservation Germany (Bund). It is also important to adapt the expansion to the advantages and disadvantages of individual regions. The study only deals with questions of energy supply and building heat, it also does not consider the possible costs.
According to the specifications of the green-black state government, the south-west is to become climate-neutral by 2040. Climate neutrality means that only as many greenhouse gases may be emitted as can be bound again.
According to the Öko-Institut for wind energy and open-space solar systems, not two percent but at least three percent of the state area should be reserved on the way there. In addition, no blanket specifications should be made for the entire country, but the advantages and disadvantages of the regions in wind power and photovoltaics should be taken into account and goals formulated accordingly, the study goes on to say. “The twelve Baden-Württemberg regions have very different starting conditions when it comes to nature conservation issues, their suitability for wind energy and the availability of heat sources,” said federal state chairwoman Sylvia Pilarsky-Grosch on Wednesday in Stuttgart.
From the perspective of the Öko-Institut, the success of the energy transition also depends on the number of deployable and well-trained specialists. It is also important to use massively less energy, to renovate buildings, to reduce the living space per capita and to change private lifestyles.
