Thomas Gregorette
International Online Report (Reporter Ruan Jiawen): Since the European energy crisis, German energy prices have been high. Under the influence of the conflict in Ukraine, the prices of related products continued to rise sharply and hit new highs, which had an impact on people’s lives and all areas of society. Although the German federal government has recently introduced a series of energy subsidy programs and intends to accelerate the energy transition, it remains to be seen how much effect it can achieve in the short term.
In recent times, German car owners have had to pay for higher and higher gas prices, even diesel prices have risen higher than gasoline. Analysts believe that this is not unrelated to the turmoil in the international market caused by the regional conflict and the reduction of Russian exports. According to data from the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs, among the energy imported by Germany, Russian natural gas accounts for about 55%, coal accounts for 50%, and crude oil accounts for about 35%. Relying on Russia, the impact is also more obvious. Ordinary people feel the pressure of “rising prices of everything” in all aspects.
In response to the energy crisis, the German federal government’s cabinet reached an agreement on the energy subsidy program on the 24th, announcing a series of measures to ease the burden on the people and businesses, including temporarily reducing fuel surcharges, granting subsidies to workers and families, encouraging People often use public transport to travel. However, the tens of billions of euros in relief package is not expected to take effect until June.
At the same time, German Deputy Chancellor and Minister of Economy and Climate Protection Habeck said on the 25th that Germany will reduce its energy dependence on Russia as soon as possible, and plans to cut crude oil imports from Russia by half by the middle of this year; in the next few weeks , reducing Russia’s coal share from 50% to about 25%; and in terms of natural gas, Germany will strive to “achieve basically no dependence on Russia by mid-2024.”
In addition, Habeck also re-emphasized the importance of accelerating energy diversification, saying that accelerating the expansion of renewable energy capacity is crucial. The German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection, where he belongs, recently proposed a draft legislative amendment to the Renewable Energy Law, which intends to speed up the construction of renewable energy infrastructure and advance the goal of achieving 100% renewable energy supply and abandoning fossil fuels. to 2035.
In this regard, Thomas Grigorette, an energy expert at the German Federal Trade and Invest, said: “The increase in diesel, gasoline and natural gas prices has seriously affected Germany’s heating and power supply, posing huge challenges to German industry and private households. So Germany must expand the production of renewable energy, including continuing to develop wind and solar energy. We definitely need to further accelerate the pace of making wind and solar energy as the main energy source in Germany as soon as possible.”
On the one hand, the German government must solve the huge impact of high energy on the people and the economy as soon as possible; on the other hand, they also hope to use this as an opportunity to speed up the process of transition to new energy. This is undoubtedly a huge challenge for Germany.Return to Sohu, see more
Editor:
Statement: The opinions of this article only represent the author himself, Sohu is an information publishing platform, and Sohu only provides information storage space services.