#teaparty #union #iww #occupy #ows #p2 #p21 #tlot #tcot The new "Made in Germany" http://www.gruene.de/themen/wirtschaft-arbeit/das-neue-made-in-germany.html The German economy would do more ambitious environmental targets well, Cem Özdemir wrote in Handelsblatt. TRANSLATED FROM GERMAN BY GOOGLE CHROME TRANSLATOR Guest article by Cem Özdmir in Handelsblatt on 08 August 2014 If humanity with the world's natural resources continue to deal so carelessly, then we need two planets by 2030 to meet our needs of food, water and energy. With these impressive words, the conservation organization WWF describes the health status of nature and climate. Do we want to do it, actually to limit global warming to two degrees, we have to face in 1990 to reduce CO2 emissions by 95 percent by 2050. The European Union and the federal government recognize the need, when they demand a reduction by at least 80 percent by 2050. But expectations and reality diverge. We must demand our economy consistent, so that it is sustainable - and precisely by gaining competitiveness. It is not about a choice between a planned economy or a blind unleashing of market forces nor a decision between a life in the monastery or on the Titanic. We have historically understood that a free market economy needs a social balance. Now we need to put our social market economy consistently robust ecological barriers. Within these broad is plenty of room for a value that assures our prosperity on a sustainable manner. It is therefore essential that the prices increasingly reflect the ecological truth. If the consumption of scarce resources or fossil fuels does not show up in the price, then there is no economic incentive to innovate to deal carefully with raw materials or to continuously reduce the use of fossil fuels. In addition to the expansion of renewable energies are indispensable instruments of ecological modernization: a functioning emissions trading, the reduction of environmentally harmful subsidies as part of an environmental fiscal reform, more minimum standards for energy and resource efficiency of products, green public procurement and fair competition. The European emissions trading is currently a steering instrument unfortunately worthless due to the oversupply of certificates. The boom in coal is responsible for ensuring that the greenhouse gas emissions will increase in Germany for the first time in many years, in 2013 to 1.2 percent. It is also absurd when "industrial companies have to expect in Germany hardly any additional expenditure for emission allowances for 2020 and some companies may even realize additional revenues through the sale of free allowances allocated" as the Öko-Institut finds in a study. Thus, the incentive to invest in technologies to reduce emissions. If the grand coalition is not against controls here, Germany will not make it, as decided by 2020 to reduce CO2 emissions by 40 percent compared to 1990. The federal government must work for a permanent removal of the excess two billion allowances in Brussels. At the same time it needs an EU-wide CO2 reserve price. In the introduction, we do not have to wait, however. Germany should rather follow the example of the UK and introduce a national minimum price of 15 euros per ton of CO2. If prices should increasingly reflect the ecological truth, we must also around 51 billion euros a year - one-sixth of the federal budget - reduce environmentally harmful subsidies in Germany or with environmental incentives. This should be done gradually and with a sense of proportion, but this path must be taken consistently and reliably, so that companies can plan. It thwarts the development of renewable energies and is economically nonsensical to subsidize the German coal industry with around two billion euros annually. This money would be better invested in science and research or in the maintenance of our infrastructure. Also the company car privilege must not be a sacred cow. The proportion of company cars in new registrations in Germany is about 50 percent. Precisely because the German car maker to be among the world leaders in the future, the tax on CO2 emissions must orient. Anyone who has experienced the smog of a Chinese mega-city, who knows that in China, where almost every third German car is sold, the future belongs to low-emission cars. I am confident that our company will be able to build more fuel-efficient engines - if there are appropriate incentives. Such a framework is indeed leading the way, but not necessarily the pace. We need a competition for the best solutions, in which the most environmentally friendly and efficient products, buildings and vehicles specify the standard that all others in a given time also must achieve. Energy-and resource wasters may have no future after a certain period. When the EU decided to phase out under the Ecodesign Directive bulbs with low energy efficiency of the transport, the polemics machine was started up. The light is thanks to efficient LED lamps are increasingly replacing conventional bulbs, not assumed. The Ecodesign Directive has proved successful. It should be further developed so that recycling plays a larger role. It is necessary that the legislature purports concrete and ambitious goals to accelerate the pace of innovation. But which company specific technologies and products prevail in the end does not decide the policy, but do the producers and consumers in the market. More disappointing is the procrastination of the EU Commission in the target for energy efficiency. The reduction of energy consumption by 30 percent by 2030 is anything but ambitious. The federal government has not even managed to implement the EU Energy Efficiency Directive from the year 2012 in the prescribed period to June 2014. Claim and reality are enormously apart here. It is repeatedly pointed out reduction targets should be realistic and feasible. Feasibility may be but not a synonym for underuse. This discouragement is a lack of confidence in the ability and creativity of our businesses and engineers. Already, about 800,000 people work in the field of energy efficiency, according to the German Initiative for energy efficiency. Total revenues for 2012 at 146 billion euros. According to the German Institute for Economic Research 150 000 further jobs can be created through efficiency measures by 2020 and ten billion euros in energy costs can be saved. But who is not required, which is not much better. Not ambitious targets are poison for investment and innovation, but the lack of reliability of the framework. I see this - besides necessary clearances the company for innovation - the ecological responsible for delivery of the policy. There is no law of nature that we still have in 30 years, the value added in Germany and Europe, in order to preserve our prosperity. Those who, like the federal government rests on successful economic data and the wrong priorities set, jeopardizes the competitiveness of tomorrow. For ten years, the state invests less than would be necessary to maintain the infrastructure. The investment rate of 17 per cent below the OECD average of 20 percent. We live on the substance. This is the ecological modernization also a tremendous innovation and investment program that puts our economy on a new and healthy legs. The pioneering and fast stragglers benefit from the ecological modernization and create new jobs. Some companies appear to adaptation to stress. This improved depreciation rules and a long-overdue tax research funding for SMEs can provide relief. It can not be to keep the political way of life companies that ignore the signs of the times. The decline of the once proud German electronics industry with companies such as Telefunken, North Mende or AEG is a reminder. We will only be successful and competitive when the new "Made in Germany" stands for the resource and energy efficient products.