New climate change goals to cost Germany €310 billion

Germany's ambitious plans to fight climate change will cost Europe's largest economy €310 billion, Manager Magazin reported on Friday.

Published: 20 November 2009 16:18 CET

New climate change goals to cost Germany €310 billion

German workers huddle as a new gas line is laid in the Elbe river. Photo: DPA

Berlin wants to set targets at the United Nations conference in Copenhagen this December to reduce fossil fuel emissions from their 1990 level by 40 percent before 2020, the magazine reported.

But a study conducted by business consultancy Deloitte for the magazine’s latest issue found that German industries will have to pony up large sums of cash to comply.

The construction industry will be hardest hit by compulsory cuts in greenhouse gasses in the coming years, having to invest some €150 billion to renovate buildings for energy efficiency, the study said. But rent regulations and the results of the financial crisis will prove to be sizeable hurdles in finishing the job, according to the magazine.

Meanwhile the transportation, logistics and energy sectors will have to make the most structural changes to achieve higher energy efficiency – after already significantly reducing their consumption in recent years, the study found.

They will not only have to implement new technology and use new energy sources, but also fundamentally change their business practices much more quickly than previous adjustments, the magazine said.

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Bonuses on the new “CopenPay” scheme include a kayak or boat tour, a vegetarian meal, a museum ticket, or an e-bicycle ride — free of charge.

Why does the city want to give away these freebies?

“It is a core task for us to make travelling sustainable. And we will only succeed if we bridge the large gap between the visitors’ desire to act sustainably and their actual behaviour”, tourism board CEO Mikkel Aaro-Hansen said.

The public’s reaction has been “overwhelmingly positive”, although some disappointed visitors “would have liked the scheme to be in place during their stay,” Copenhagen tourism office communications director Rikke Holm Petersen told news agency AFP.

Although the tourist board says it wants the scheme to change behaviour to a more eco-friendly approach, it admits the initiative alone cannot dent the environmental impact of tourism.

More than 100,000 passengers flew into Copenhagen in June, resulting in a much higher carbon footprint than bus or train travel, according to airport data.

“The environmental burden of transportation to and from Copenhagen is much more significant than that of local transportation,” said tourism website VisitCopenhagen.

“We have chosen to limit our advertising efforts to Copenhagen Airport, the central station, and within the city itself, rather than conducting marketing campaigns abroad,” Petersen said.

The tourism office will consider extending the scheme beyond the city — perhaps even abroad — if it proves successful.

“We hope to reintroduce CopenPay as a year-round, green payment experience within the economy and broaden the concept to other parts of Denmark and the rest of the world,” according to the VisitCopenhagen site.