Germany wants EU compensation for nuclear phase-out
By Honor Mahony
The German economy minister believes Germany should be allowed to emit more carbon dioxide (CO2) in compensation for phasing out its nuclear energy.
Michael Glos has written to his environment counterpart, Sigmar Gabriel, to say that Germany's planned nuclear phase-out must be taken into account when the EU is allocating CO2 permits to member states as part of its overall bid to lower greenhouse gas emissions from the bloc.
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According to German daily Handelsblatt, Mr Glos wrote: "The additional emissions resulting from the phasing out of nuclear energy have to be considered by the EU in the overall emissions trading scheme."
The economy minister is pushing Mr Gabriel to take this position in negotiations with the European Commission on the issue.
Mr Glos referred to the example of Sweden which at the end of the 1990s secured itself special treatment due to its nuclear phase-out. This meant that it was allowed to emit four percent more greenhouse gases between 1990 and 2012.
As a whole, the EU must reduce its CO2 emissions by eight percent in this time period, with each member state contributing differently.
Under ambitious new targets agreed by EU leaders last March, the bloc is supposed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020.
The EU is now trying to finalise how each of the 27 member states should contribute to reaching the target.
If the 17 German nuclear power stations were to be replaced by other kinds of power stations, then Germany's annual CO2 emissions would rise by 150 million tonnes, says Handelsblatt.