Public engagement in Germany Alexander Boehringer UBA Germany 07.11.2011
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 07.11.2011
RWE CCS Project 07.11.2011
What happens to ground water/drinking water ? 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 07.11.2011
07.11.2011
Intransparancy of the mining law, engagement of 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; 07.11.2011
Distance to Storage Site Level European Federal State (Länder) Local Distance to Storage Site Objection 07.11.2011
Distance to Storage Site 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 07.11.2011
2010 – time of repositioning 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 drew opt-out (comparable to Art. 4 EU-Dir) RWE Project shelved, later withdrawn Vattenfall-Project application stage 07.11.2011
Vattenfall-Project Jänschwalde 07.11.2011
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 07.11.2011
Lawmaking in Germany Lawmaking is like producing sausages: You better dont look too closely how its done (Bismarck) Grafics: wikipedia 07.11.2011
Fragen. FG I 2. 2 Alexander Boehringer alexander. boehringer@uba Fragen ? FG I 2.2 Alexander Boehringer alexander.boehringer@uba.de FG I 1.3 Ralf Becker ralf.becker@uba.de www.umweltbundesamt.de Any questions ? alexander.boehringer@uba.de www.umweltbundesamt.de 07.11.2011