Sources: Reuters; The Independent (U.K.).
Contributors: Paul Kieffer and Cecil Maranville
Germany's Environmental Policy Increases Dependence on Russia
This autumn has been quite positive for Germany's Minister of the Environment
Jürgen Trittin, a member of the the Green Party, the governing coalition's
junior partner. After some initial criticism, his government's subsidy
program for wind-powered electricity was renewed with only minor modification.
A new government-subsidized geothermal electricity plant near Berlin also
went on line. But perhaps the greatest satisfaction for Minister Trittin was
the decommissioning in mid-November of the first of Germany's 19 atomic
energy plants in Stade near Hamburg.
When Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder replaced Helmut Kohl's government
in 1998, the Green Party made the elimination of nuclear power plants a condition
for its participation in Schroeder's coalition. The electricity industry
initially protested. However, after receiving assurances that its nuclear
plants would be able to remain on line another 20 years, the industry acquiesced
and began preparations for alternative energy sources.
Atomic power plants currently provide approximately 30 percent of Germany's
electrical consumption. Minister Trittin's alternative electrical generation
projects may help the environment, but fall far short of making up the gap
that will be left by abandoning atomic power. The only natural resource that
Germany has in abundance is coal, but as a signatory to the Kyoto protocol—and
a vocal critic of U.S. President George W. Bush for abandoning that agreement—Germany
is committed to reducing its use of coal. Oil has to be imported and is subject
to the same Kyoto restraints as coal.
Clean-burning natural gas is the logical choice for Germany's looming
energy gap. That gap, however, has important foreign policy implications for
Chancellor Schroeder's government and its successors. To replace all
electricity now generated by atomic power, Germany's consumption of
natural gas would increase by an estimated 50 percent. Since demand is increasing,
that figure will be higher by 2021, when the last atomic plant goes off line.
Currently 52 percent of Germany's natural gas requirements are met by
imports from the Netherlands, Norway, Britain and Denmark. Much of the remaining
amount comes from Russia. And of those suppliers, only Russia has the reserves
needed to provide Germany's growing appetite for natural gas.
