Studio guest – Claudia Kemfert, German Institute for Economic Research (DIW)

Our studio guest is Professor Claudia Kemfert of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW). She heads the Energy, Transportation, Environment department at DIW. We are speaking to her about global CO2 emissions, the costs and benefits of CO2 reduction for business, as well as about competition and alternatives to environmentally unfriendly forms of energy generation. DW-TV: The Airline Lufthansa is searching for ways to spend less energy. Like, a little less water, a few less detours, yet more air traffic. What's your take on Lufthansa's babystep stratergy? Klaudia Kemfert: I think it's a good strategy to look at each component where to reduce emissions. It sounds very small, but in sum, if everyone's doing something then we create a larger amount and that is what we have to do to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions drastically. DW-TV: What else could airlines do, for example, Lufthansa, do to really clean up their image? Klaudia Kemfert: I mean what they did already right now is that they joined the so-called Emissions Trading System, which is a european system where companys can trade emissions. That's a good inititive and they have to find new alternative transport fuels, and they must be CO2 free. That's a big task and I hope they can manage to do so. DW-TV: Everyone is talking about CO2 emissions obviously, but the urgency of the problem really becomes clear when you look at the dramatic increase of CO2 emissions over the last 16 years, from 22 billion tons in 1991 to some 30 billion in 2006 worldwide. And some experts are actually saying that unless we manage to cut down CO2 emissions and do something about climate change then we will face a worldwide economic crisis. What's your take on that? Klaudia Kemfert: Yes, that's true because climate change will bring economic damages to many regions across the world, but we have to reduce emissions. It sounds easy but it's not in practice because we see that China is growing so fast at the moment. They are creating one coal powerplant a week and this is why we cannot reduce CO2 emissions drastically, but we should. DW-TV: Saving energy is good for the environment, and it cuts down costs, however before we can save energy, companys have to dig deep into their pockets. How much does emission reduction cost the German economy in total? Klaudia Kemfert: If we really do what the government right now plans to cut by 30% within the next 3 years, then we have calculated that each househould on average will need to spend 8 Euros per month in the next 10 years, but they could save that energy, up to 12 Euros a month. DW-TV: Now Germany seems to take climate protection more seriously than its EU neighbours. What does that mean for Germany's competitiveness? Klaudia Kemfert: Well, we have to see that also Germany benefited from the German reunification because the emission reduction is based on 1990. But nevertheless we start to do something more but we can also benefit from it because it brings new technologies into the market and this is a comparitive advantage to other economies. (Interview: Monika Jones)

DW-World | November 27, 2007

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