FAIReconomics Newsletter Week 50 
Laschet wants to negotiate, AKK not: After the party congress of the SPD this weekend, different signals came from the coalition partner CDU. North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister and CDU vice-president Armin Laschet, for example, wants to negotiate a higher CO2 price with the newly elected SPD leadership. „This is what we are talking about with the Greens anyway,“ Laschet said, who is said to have ambitions for a candidacy as top candidate of his party. „The climate package does not have to be unravelled, because it is partly unravelled on the table of the mediation committee, also because we still need the approval of the state governments in which the Greens are involved. The new SPD leadership is calling for a higher entry price for CO2 than the federal government’s climate package has so far provided for. Anders Laschet, party leader, CDU chairman Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.  „There is an agreement with the SPD in the government and in the Bundestag. We have been negotiating about this for a long time“, said the CDU leader. Now the mediation procedure with the Bundesrat is underway. One could not start from scratch again. Time is pressing. sueddeutsche.de , faz.net

70 cents more for diesel: According to the Federal Environment Agency, drastic steps are needed to achieve the climate targets for transport.  All privileges would have to be abolished, from commuter allowances to diesel taxation to company cars. By 2030, the tax on petrol would have to rise by 47 cents, and that on diesel by 70 cents. The truck toll would have to be increased and introduced to a speed limit of 120 on motorways. The paper has not yet been published. sueddeutsche.de

700 international companies have joined forces to have their climate targets scientifically reviewed. They have joined the „Science-Based Targets“ (SBT). Here it is checked whether the company targets meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement. klimareporter.de

DIHK demands reduction of electricity costs: The Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) demands that the Mediation Committee of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, which meets today, drastically reduce electricity costs in the short term and completely abolish the so-called EEG levy by 2030. The Federal Government plans to lower the allocation after the renewable energy law in the year 2021 first by 0,25 cent per kilowatt-hour. welt.de

Heil and Müller want to abolish the tax on fair coffee: Development Minister Gerd Müller and Labor Minister Hubertus Heil want to abolish the coffee tax for fair grown and processed products. Both ministers visited Ethiopia. Coffee farmers also do not like fair trade coffee very much. With the abolition of the tax, a competitive advantage is created for products that are produced in compliance with minimum standards. Coffee is one of the main products of developing countries, but only a very low price is paid for the raw materials used in purchasing. This is equivalent to just three or four percent of the final price. „This has nothing to do with justice,“ said the development minister. tagesschau.de
US delegation at Madrid climate summit: Even though the USA has officially withdrawn from the Paris climate agreement, the Americans are still present at the climate summit in Madrid. Nancy Pelosi, a representative of the House of Representatives, will take part… „And we are here, to tell you all, on behalf of the House of Representatives and the United States Congress, „We are still here!  In parallel, former Secretary of State John Kerry presented the „World War Zero“ initiative – an alliance of politicians, celebrities and the military against climate change. Global warming is a „question of international security,“ said Kerry. One hopes to mobilize the American citizens „as in the war“ for the fight against greenhouse gases. spiegel.de , zeit.de
Extreme weather Germany strongly affected: Anyone who believes that Germany is not affected by climate change should look at the Climate Risk Index for 2018. There Germany lies on the third place. Temperatures in 2018 between April and July were 2.9 degrees above average. Many deaths and losses of three billion euros in harvests alone were the consequences. The climate risk index is based, among other things, on data from large insurance companies. zdf.de , germanwatch.org
To be read:

The CO2 brake – With the emissions budget against the climate crash
Our economic system is based on the illusion of the possibility of limitless growth, an ever-increasing exploitation of natural resources and a steadily increasing prosperity – and thus on the illusion of being able to overcome the laws of nature. 
In this paper, Lothar Mayer explains why industrial capital must destroy the planet’s life-support systems, and outlines a solution as visionary as it is practical: the introduction of a personal CO2 budget to neutralize capital and mitigate the consequences of climate catastrophe.  oekom.de
——————————————————–
EU Commission: Wants to promote environmentally friendly heating.  zeit.de
Penalty: Sweden’s National Bank no longer buys government bonds from countries that are particularly harmful to the climate. taz.de
Founded: German federation job and living. fair-economics.de
Orsted: First wind park without subsidies.handelsblatt.com
Companies unmasked: Many enterprises disguise their participation in the coal energy industry. enorm-magazin.de
MOBILITY:
Electric mobility for rural areas? Until now, rural areas were not regarded as the Mecca for electric mobility. But here, too, there is a whole range of perspectives and possibilities. Even if this will look different than in the cities. erneuerbareenergien.de
Green hydrogen production with Australia: Federal Research Minister Anja Karliczek (CDU) wants to enter into a hydrogen partnership with Australia. The country is predestined for the production of green hydrogen. wiwo.de
New study on e-mobility: When a study by the IVL Institute appeared in Sweden two years ago, the researchers were sceptical about electromobility. Now the researchers have updated their figures: The CO2 emissions from the production of rechargeable batteries are thus only half as high as previously assumed.  efahrer.chip.de
Lithium-ion batteries: danger for burning e-cars. deutschlandfunk.de
Biogas industry: Wants to play a part in traffic.  bizz-energy.com

TAKEN LITERALLY
„From time to time I read something about the Fridays for Future demonstrations, but somehow I never got around to getting more involved with the children’s goals. I think this is similar to many people in Ghana. It’s not that we don’t care about climate change. But doing something about it is not our first priority. Tenth, if anything.“
Portia, 25, librarian, Ghana, on the one hand this has to do with our mentality. It is a kind of survival strategy not to let bad things get too close to us. It is getting hotter and hotter in West Africa? Okay, it’s already hot, the next few degrees we’ll get! Let’s find a fan and power somewhere! And make a joke about it. On the other hand, most people in the country are not doing well enough. Those who have to ask themselves the whole day where they should get something to eat or sleep at night are not worried about climate protection. For us this is a luxury problem. Even for her – and she is lucky enough to have a good job in an office with a dense roof.  spiegel.de
„The real problem is not the climate, but the overpopulation: eight billion people currently live on this planet and soon it will be ten or twelve billion – and they need more and more resources. And, of course, this will increase the overall demand for resources. But that has nothing to do with electro-mobility, which is a geopolitical problem in principle – completely independent of e-mobility.“
Alexander Michaelis, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute in Dresden, „It would therefore also be downright crazy to now focus exclusively on e-mobility. Maybe we should first try to consume less raw materials and energy, says Michaelis. Every individual, and humanity as a whole, because after all, it’s a global challenge. ndr.de

MORE KNOWLEDGE

Could the Mekong Delta disappear?  According to a recent study, the entire area up to Ho Chi Minh City could be completely flooded in thirty years. While sea levels are rising due to ocean warming – by 20 centimeters in the past 50 years – the Mekong delta is sinking by an additional two to four centimeters annually. One of the reasons for this is that farmers increasingly extract groundwater from the soil to irrigate their fields during the dry season. Salt water penetrates the fields and makes the cultivation of rice, vegetables and fruits more difficult. faz.net
What avocados have to do with lithium batteries: For the lithium of a battery with a capacity of 64 kilowatt hours (kWh), 3,840 liters of water are evaporated according to standard calculation methods. This corresponds to the water consumption for the production of 250 grams of beef, ten avocados, 30 cups of coffee or half a pair of jeans. A 64 kWh battery is in the middle of the range of the various variants of the Tesla Model 3 and has a range of around 450 kilometres – so this battery is somewhat more sustainable than the jeans or the steak, for example. tagesspiegel.de.
Just a few drops left – Victoria Falls: The Victoria Falls in Zambia and Zimbabwe are the widest waterfalls in the world. But at the moment the waterfall is causing concern. Due to a severe drought only one trickle flows over the cliffs. Whether the drought and dehydration is due to climate change has not yet been determined. But researchers are worried. In recent years, an accumulation of droughts has been observed in the Zambezi Basin: It was only three years ago that the driest year was recorded. In addition, the dry period ends could delay the monsoon – which could then bring even more heavy rainfall in even shorter time. spiegel.de
New Zealand: Climate change is taken into account in all political decisions. theguardian.com
Cinnamon in the test: Hardly liver-damaging Cumarin in the spice. wdr.de
Bafin: Wants to get lastingness from the niche. fair-economics.de
Future of the net giants: New rules for platforms and unbundling demanded.netzpolitik.org
THE LAST:
Money for climate deniers: The opencast mine in Lusatia is to be completed by 2038 as part of the lignite phase-out. There is fierce opposition to this decision in the region. The AfD has taken the lead in the movement against the withdrawal. Here the man-made climate change is denied. Now it has turned out that this is also subsidised with taxpayers‘ money. Since October, the association „Pro Lausitzer Braunkohle“ has received 40,000 euros for a climate change campaign that denies climate change. spiegel.de