Under a two-year €130bn stimulus package, the German government coalition plans to lower levies on power prices for households and small businesses and to invest in hydrogen technologies.
The levy on the bills of final consumers to finance the renewable feed-in-tariffs (EEG surcharge), which amounts to €6.8c/kWh in 2020, will be capped to €6.5c/kWh in 2021 and €6c/kWh in 2022. In addition, the renewable support scheme will directly be funded from the federal budget, at an estimated cost of €11bn. In May 2020, the country passed a new regulation to use the income from national emissions trading that would be used to relieve the EEG surcharge on electricity bills. Electricity prices in Germany are among the highest in the EU and in 2019, the EEG surcharge represented 21% of the electricity price for households.
In addition, the government plans to spend €9bn on hydrogen technologies. Germany aims to invest €7bn to reach a hydrogen production capacity of 5 GW by 2030, with an additional 5 GW by 2040 at the latest. Another €2bn will be invested to create partnerships with countries where hydrogen can be efficiently produced.
Germany aims to reach GHG neutrality by 2050. This corresponds to a 55% cut in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 compared with 1990. Preliminary figures show that GHG emissions declined by 6.3% (-54 MtCO2eq) in 2019 to 805 MtCO2eq, the largest annual decrease since 1990. GHG emissions are now 36% lower than in 1990.