Rapid independence possible
Habeck: Free from “clamp” Russian energy
03/10/2022 12:24 am
A hasty termination of Russian energy imports would entail risks for Germany. Federal Economics Minister Habeck warns of unemployment and price increases in this regard. An exit within a short time is still within the realm of possibility.
According to Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck, Germany can quickly free itself from Russian energy imports. “We will quickly free ourselves from Russian imports, but we’re not there yet,” said the Green politician in the evening on ZDF’s “heute journal”. “You can change it in weeks and months, but not in hours.” Habeck explained that these weeks and months were necessary. It is about preventing hundreds of thousands of unemployed and price increases that people can no longer afford.
It is also about averting damage that would bind Germany for years and also paralyze it politically. “We know from the Covid pandemic that the failure of just a few primary products can damage the entire supply chain. And of course that also applies to primary products that come from natural gas, coal or oil,” said Habeck. Unlike, for example, the USA, Great Britain or other parts of Europe, Germany is connected to Russia by pipelines. These are not so easy to replace by ships.
However, we are constantly working to do that. “With some success.” When asked about the role of lignite as a substitute, Habeck emphasized: “Lignite is not the answer.” It is the most climate-damaging energy source, but it is now available in Germany. However, it is only used as a reserve. The aim is to advance the expansion of renewable energies.
Expert calls for “massive sanctions”
The National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina published a statement last Tuesday. In it, scientists had come to the conclusion that an import ban on Russian gas would be manageable for the German economy under certain conditions.
Climate researcher Ottmar Edenhofer is also calling on Germany to impose an import ban on Russian gas and oil like the USA. “We now need the most massive sanctions. Europe cannot afford to continue financing Putin’s war through gas and oil imports. And yes, we could succeed in enforcing this import ban,” Edenhofer told the Rheinische Post in Düsseldorf. “The question of energy and supply security is then the downstream question.”
However, the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) conceded that this can be associated with high costs and bottlenecks: “However, honesty also means that the gas problem can still present us with major challenges costs and massive interventions in the gas market. Nevertheless, I think it is a feasible scenario.”
German industrial companies could be threatened with a shutdown next winter: “It would be conceivable for next winter if the storage tanks cannot be filled accordingly,” said Edenhofer and went on to emphasize: “In winter, private households would be prioritized for gas supply, which Customers in industry would have to take a back seat. We are talking about scenarios in times of war.”