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Public engagement in Germany Alexander Boehringer UBA Germany. 2009 – the start. EU-CCS-Directive passed and went into force June 24th, 2009; EEPR (European Energy Programme for Recovery) from July 2009, i.a. long-list of CCS-projects;
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Public engagement in Germany Alexander Boehringer UBA Germany
2009 – the start • EU-CCS-Directive passed and went into force June 24th, 2009; • EEPR (European Energy Programme for Recovery) from July 2009, i.a. long-list of CCS-projects; • Transposition into national law (1st attempt) April 2009 • RWE-Project Hürth, application under mining law 2008 (exploration for brine) • Vattenfall-Project Jänschwalde (planning stage) 2009
Public concerns • Public engagement: No experience from CCS Most important issues to the public: • Lack of information: • What happens to ground water/drinking water ? • My position as land owner • How to regulate property damages • Local effects: • Estate prices, Tourism • Local risks, why the risks here ? • General discussion • Renewable energies (wind) and CCS
Analysis Four weeks in spring 2009 swept away the storage project and the German CCS-bill. What went wrong? • Timing: Federal and state elections (Schleswig-Holstein) in Autumn 2009 • Intransparancy of the mining law, engagement of stakeholders and public very late in the process • No public debate nationwide; • No information campaign locally before the start of project; • Strategy of „Never wake up sleeping dogs“ failed; • „Proxy War“: Beat CCS, Hit coal, hit utilities;
Level European Federal State (Länder) Local Distance to Storage Site Objection
Level European Federal State (Länder) Local Conclusion: You dont win public acceptance in Brussels, but out there in every storage area Distance to Storage Site Objection
2010 – time of repositioning 2010 • New political majorities on federal and state level (Schleswig-Holstein) • Citizens initiatives had momentum, felt and looked strong; • Politics intimidated, no poltical leadership • Some Länder (S-H, Lower Sax.) drew opt-out (comparable to Art. 4 EU-Dir) • RWE Project shelved, later withdrawn • Vattenfall-Project application stage
2011 ccs-bill • Lessons learnt: • More transparency, information offices in storage areas • Local initiatives not backed by state government in Brandenburg • CCS-bill as demonstration law by downsizing and deadline, Opt-out-article • Political Result: • Differing interests • Old maid-effect (Schwarzer Peter) 2011
Lawmaking in Germany Lawmaking is like producing sausages: You better dont look too closely how its done (Bismarck) Grafics: wikipedia
Fragen ? FG I 2.2 Alexander Boehringeralexander.boehringer@uba.deFG I 1.3 Ralf Beckerralf.becker@uba.dewww.umweltbundesamt.de Any questions ? alexander.boehringer@uba.de www.umweltbundesamt.de