Strategies and Technologies for Greenhouse Gas Mitigation

An Indo-German Contribution to Global Efforts

Jürgen-Fredrich Hake, Narendra Bansal, Manfred Kleemann

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• eBook ISBN:
  9780429797644
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

First published in 1999, this volume provide a useful contribution to global CO2 mitigation in an effort towards effective climate protection achieved through national and international efforts. This volume forms part of an international monograph publishing series covering new research into the 'green' issues such as government, corporate and public responses to environmental hazards, the economics of green policies and the effectiveness of environmental protection programmes.

PART I
National Strategies and Programmes

1 Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Strategies in Germany and the European Community

Jürgen-Friedrich Hake and Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs

Introduction

Climate change refers to the observation that human activities have come to influence natural processes in the atmosphere. Presently, climate change is one of the major concerns of all nations. As a result of the Rio Conference, Article 2 of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) requires the

stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Such a level should be achieved within a time-frame sufficient to allow the ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.

Following the assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) the most dominant greenhouse gases (GHGs) are carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. These gases contributed 75 per cent to the anthropogenic greenhouse effect during the 1980s. Other greenhouse gases are ozone (O₃), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and water (H₂O) vapour.

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is responsible for 55 per cent of the human contribution to the greenhouse effect. The main emissions result from burning fossil fuels. Each year human beings shift 22 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the earth to the air. Half of the global emissions remains in the atmosphere leading to an increase in the gas’s atmospheric concentration of about 0.5 per cent annually.

Anthropogenic sources of methane (CH₄) are e. g. the extraction and distribution of crude oil and natural gas, coal mining and waste dumps, where inorganic material is depleted under anaerobic conditions. Methane accounts for 15 per cent of the human-induced intensification of the greenhouse effect. Because it is relatively rapidly removed from the atmosphere by chemical reactions in the air, emission reductions of about 15 to 20 per cent would be required to stabilize methane at its current high concentrations.

Nitrous oxide (N₂O) is produced by a variety of biological and chemical processes in soils and water. Two recently identified major sources are the production of nylon and nitrogen fertilizers. Scientists estimated that a 70 to 80 per cent reduction in human-induced emissions would be needed in order to stabilize concentrations at their present high level.

The contribution of different gases to the greenhouse effect can be compared with the concept of global warming potential (GWP). Carbon dioxide is used as a reference (GWP =1). For the GHGs under consideration here and with an expected lifetime of 100 years, GWP equals: GWP₁₀₀(CH₄) = 11, GWP₁₀₀(N₂O) = 270. Though the relative weight of CH₄ and N₂O increases using the concept of GWP, carbon dioxide still dominates due to its tremendous amount.

Population growth and economic development directly represent the main driving forces for increased use of fossil fuels and indirectly for climate change. Obviously, the situation differs for individual geographical regions or countries. For an OECD country like Germany, an increase in GDP has been accompanied by a decline of primary energy consumption while the population has remained on a stable level over the past 5 years. For other countries like India, a transition from a less developed country to a fast developing country with high growth rates for population and economic development can be observed. In addition, multinational organizations like the European Community have become more important in facing a wide range of new problems, because policy making is increasingly being transferred to multinational organizations.

Economic development needs an adequate energy supply. Regarding greenhouse gas mitigation strategies, the dependence of any economy on a sufficient supply of energy services cannot be left out of consideration.

Present Situation in Germany

Since the beginning of the nineties, German society has had to face three major challenges:

1. Harmonization of internal development after the unification of East and West Germany: After 6 years of harmonization, economic and social structures still differ. Though many policy measures have been taken up to increase the speed of harmonization, overall policy has not been as successful as expected. One of the sectors where the harmonization process was most successful is the energy sector, mainly the electricity sector.
2. Further integration into the European Community which is developing towards a single market: As one of the 15 EC states Germany plays a very important role with regard to economic and technological development. Further integration in the EC towards a single market is an ongoing challenge.
3. Globalization of environment and economy: For a variety of goods and services, globalization processes create worldwide competition. This development is accompanied by severe structural changes in the industrialized countries, especially in Europe. Additionally, globalization refers to environmental aspects. In the case of CO₂, the increase of emissions is a global problem, which cannot be solved on a national level.

Any strategy to mitigate GHG emissions in Germany has to be embedded into the complex system of interdependent policy responses to these challenging developments.

GHG Emissions

Emissions of GHGs in Germany do not show a uniform picture (Table 1.1). Regarding the emission of carbon dioxide, the official statistics report a decrease from 1,014 million tonnes of CO₂ in 1990 to 895 million tonnes in 1995. Energy-related emissions are dominant. Their contribution decreased from 987 million tonnes in 1990 to 869 million tonnes in 1995. It seems that the observed reduction of CO₂ emissions has slowed down and probably reached a stable level of approximately 870 million tonnes.

Table 1.1 GHG emissions in Germany from 1990 to 1995

In 1990, the emissions of methane and nitrous oxide were 5.7 and 0.2 million tonnes, respectively. The energy-related fractions are much lower. Even when one takes into account the global warming potentials of these substances, CO₂ remains the dominant substance.

Demographic and Economic Development

The main demographic and economic data for Germany are given in Table 1.2. The population has slightly increased to 81.6 million over the last six years because of net immigration. The number of households increased at a higher annual rate from 34.9 million to 36.7 million over four years.

From 1991 to 1995, the German gross domestic product (GDP) grew from 1,719 billion US $¹ to 1,821 billion US $. The structure of GDP and sectoral production shows a shift from energy-intensive towards service-oriented (and labour-intensive) sectors. This development is accompanied by further capitalization of production, which results partly in the replacement of other factor inputs by capital goods (in the the form of equipment and buildings).

The most dominant industrial sector with respect to energy use is the iron and steel sector, which is expected to decline in Germany within the next 25 years. The energy demand in 2005 is expected to decrease by 30-40 per cent compared to 1989. Another energy-intensive sector is aluminium production. The production of primary aluminium is expected to decrease by 30-50 per cent between 1989 and 2005. In contrast, recycling of aluminium scrap to secondary aluminium shows large growth rates. But in total, due to the expected rise of aluminium demand accompanied by the decrease of domestic primary aluminium smelting capacity, Germany turns out to be a large importer (Jochem, 1996).

German Energy Sector

Since unification of West and East Germany, the energy sector can be characterized by a decreasing consumption of primary energy towards a level of approximately 14,100 PJ (Table 1.3). Fossil energy carriers dominate and covered 87 per cent of the primary energy sources in 1995. The contribution of lignite, the dominant primary energy carrier in East Germany, has been reduced, while oil and particularly gas now have increased shares. Nuclear energy remains stable. In contrast to...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Contributor
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Presidential Address
• Ambassador’s Address
• Part I: National Strategies and Programmes
• Part II: Renewable Energies for Climate Protection
• Part III: Reduction Options in the Residential Sector
• Summary and Conclusions