A review of the German energy transition: taking stock, looking ahead, and drawing conclusions for the Middle East and North Africa
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This paper reviews the German energy policy framework, commonly known as ‘Energiewende’, which aims to transform and decarbonise the German energy system. We look at the achievements made over the last 8 years and discuss the implications, e.g., in terms of costs and rents, for consumers and producers of electricity in Germany and beyond. German policy makers have been successful in deploying new technologies, but have so far failed to achieve CO 2 emission reductions. Producer rents were significantly cut, while the subsidisation of renewables has led to a sharp increase in end-user prices. The challenge now is to start moving the energy transition beyond power generation and achieve emission savings in the transport, industry, and buildings’ sectors.
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Germany's Energiewende, implemented in 2010, was well-executed until 2018 but fell short of reducing CO2 emissions.
“Until 2018, the energy programme was well-executed but fell short of reducing CO2 emissions.”
From Strategies to achieve a carbon neutral society: a review (2022) · cites this paper as Schiffer and Trüby 2018
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- Authors
- Schiffer, H.-W., & Trüby, J.
- Affiliations
- World Energy Council (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Trüby, Johannes
- Venue
- Energy Transitions
- Published
- 2018-09-21
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 1-2
- Pages
- 1-14
- ISSN
- 2520-114X (ISSN-L)
- 2520-1166
- OpenAlex
- W2892040669
- Cited by
- 33
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 0.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Energy Transitions (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Renewable Energy and Sustainability
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Renewable energy and sustainable power systems
- Physical Sciences › Energy › General Energy › Global Energy Security and Policy
- Keywords
- Energiewende, energy policy, decarbonization, CO2 emission reduction, renewable energy subsidies, electricity prices, energy system transformation, Middle East and North Africa, transport decarbonization, industrial decarbonization, building energy efficiency
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