European Experience: Leverage legislation
European Experience: Leverage legislation In Protecting Environment
An Interview with Germany Green Party Chief Reinhard Bütikofer
July 24, 2008
Reinhard Bütikofer has been Chairman of Alliance 90/The Greens (German: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, which is the world’s oldest and most successful Green Party) since December 2002.
In 1998, Alliance 90/The Greens organized government for the first time in coalition with the Social Democrats. The Greens took three ministries in the government, including Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since November 2005, Christian Democratic Union has taken over the government.
Recently, Reinhard Bütikofer, Chairman of the Greens, visited China. Since he has extensive experiences with green movement, South Weekend asked Mr. Lu Yangzi to interview with Mr. Reinhard to talk about European environmental experiences and lessons.
Not policies, but implementation
As you have paid much attention to China’s environment, so in your opinion what is the thing China most needs for environment, new ideas or the specific instruments?
Reinhard Bütikofer: I had discussions with people during an American forum, some of them questioned me whether China really has interest of its own in moving on climate change issues, my understanding is that China does! This is because if China does not check climate change, it is bound to lose a lot, experiencing a lot of problems like droughts, floods and rise of sea-level. Seriously speaking, China might have to face not only environmental degradation but also environmental destruction. So I am convinced that China will have to act and try to find solutions.
I am not talking about avoiding climate change but reducing climate change by limiting green house gas emission. We do not have to reinvent climate policies. We know what have to be done, we know most of the solutions and strategies, and we know we have to use different instruments such as market instruments, “commands and control” and physical instruments. We must use “mixed” instruments.
“Top Runner Policy” and “Eco-Tax”
According to German and European experience, could you give some examples of the instruments?
Reinhard Bütikofer: For example, the emission trading system—Europe is experimenting with emission trade system; Or Eco-Tax, which is also an important one; or what the Japanese developed, called “Top Runner”, which is an energy efficiency strategy.
Japan legislates that the most energy-efficient electrical device on the market defines the prescribed level of energy efficiency. So for example, if company A puts a very energy efficiency fan on the market, they define energy efficiency standard for the market and all the other producers of the fans have to comply with that standard of that fan within, let’s say 3-5 years, if not they will be push out of the market. If they do, they probably even find a better standard. So this is the way to stimulate companies to develop energy efficient products and thus raising the overall energy efficiency.
High price and low emission, driven by strict Laws
In a market-oriented economy, does renewable energy industry need extra support? What is the role of legislation?
Reinhard Bütikofer: I am proud to say that Germany might be the country with the best renewable energy policies in the world. We have been able to develop a very strong renewable energy industry over the last eight years. And it was the Greens’ initiative when we were in the governments. It has created a lot of new jobs and economic opportunities, which is not only helping the environment, but also helping the economy and the people.
As to how to support renewable energy industry, we have adopted very innovative instruments. Basically, it is the consumers who support the development of renewable energy industry.
We have a policy called “Fit-in Law”. To explain shortly, every renewable energy producer has legal right to access to general grid. The grid company must accept it and pay whatever price. The prices for renewable energy are usually higher than the general energy price. For instance, our average electricity price is between 5-7 euro cents/kWh, while the price of Onshore Wind is roughly 9 euro cents/kWh. Solar power’s price is even higher. This is designed to make the production of renewable energy economically feasible and profitable. And the public utilities have to buy it according to the law. So there is a huge impulse and motivation for the renewable energy producers. They do not have to worry about the cost which is shared by the consumers. And they are not supported by public budget. This policy is very successful and more than 40 countries worldwide have copied this strategy.
Talking about transportation, we are fighting for legislation on a European level to force automobile manufacturers to reduce the amount of CO2 emission to 120 grams per kilometer by 2012. If not, they would be fined. Although there are oppositions from manufacturers and even inside the government, it is a goal we are fighting for now.
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And there are still else. One of the major sources of CO2 emission in our country is house heating. Roughly 50% of the energy we use for heating is wasted. The average heating standard of a normal flat is 200—300kWh/㎡per year. By applying state-of-art technology of insulation, it can be reduced to 15 kWh/㎡ per year. We are proposing a legislation that would allow tenants to request their landlords to refurnish the house with state-of-art insulation. In some cases, the tenant is willing to share the cost of newer energy saving technologies, because the rent also drops as the house consumes less energy. With the price of energy like oil and gas rising greatly these days, this policy became more significant.
So these are some of the feasible instruments and experiences. Of course, people will judge from local conditions and they are not adaptive for every country.
No Green Strategy, No Profits
In Germany, who has been actively putting forward these new legislations and innovative ideas?
Reinhard Bütikofer: Two years ago, only the Greens, of course I mean in the political area. Since then, everybody is making effort. Why? Firstly, “Stern Review”, Stern is the former World Bank’s chief economist. In the fall 2006, he published a report whose core argument is: if we fail to use 1% of global GDP to make advancements in avoiding the climate change’s negative affects, 5%-20% of global GDP will be cost to repair the damage resulted by climate change. This is the first time that Economics theory proves the affects of climate change.
Secondly, it is the movie “An Inconvenient Truth” by Al Gore. It did impress a lot.
Thirdly, I think it is The IPCC’s Report (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, who shared 2007 Noble Peace Prize with Al Gore.)
Last but not least, everybody is witnessing the climate change. I call my mother almost everyday. She lives in south part of Germany and she always tells me “my roses blossom earlier again this year”.
What are the roles of companies, NGOs and governments in environmental protection?
Reinhard Bütikofer: The role of NGOs is paramount and also they are the best partners. They do not play party politics or run for profits. If a minor party like the Greens proposes an issue, it will take a long time to make people recognize it. But civil society groups, like NGOs and Non-profit organizations, are much more convincing than politicians.
Today the environment facing by NGOs is different from twenty years ago. People at that time were generally not interested in environmental issues. The political struggles were stiff. Corporations did not listen to you, nor did the traditional parties. However, that situation has changed. In China, the central government has proclaimed that they believe climate change is a serious problem.
So I think that now NGOs can make coalition with the government and companies. Actually, many companies have learned about the significance of green strategy for their businesses. In the future, a company can not make business success without green strategies, that is to say depending less on fossil fuels like oil and coal. I have learned that some Chinese NGOs recently proposed a “26 ℃ air-conditioner plan”, and later a few companies and governmental offices accepted this idea. I think this is a good example of how NGOs influences the government.
