Accelerating the energy transition also pays off economically

According to a calculation by the consulting firm PWC, study leader Henry Otto (Energy Consulting at PwC Germany) and his team stated that the energy transition is no more expensive than continuing to live as before - only the holistic view of the topic is essential.

The fact that an economy will actually be less expensive once the energy transition is complete has not yet been scientifically worked out for our latitudes. This calculation is based on an interesting study that examined two scenarios for Germany:

The methodology

Scenario 1: Continue as before

Maintaining the current pace of decarbonization and the expansion of renewable energies means that the politically desired GHG neutrality will not be achieved by 2045.

Scenario 2: Accelerated climate protection

With higher and faster investment in the energy transition, Germany will achieve climate neutrality by 2045.

The comparison

The topic is quite complex. The authors of the study include both investment costs and energy costs. They also take into account the energy industry itself and all sectors in which energy is consumed, such as industry, housing and transportation.

The result

The total costs of both scenarios are very close together until 2050 (Scenario 1: EUR 13.3 trillion, Scenario 2: EUR 13.2 trillion), but the gap widens thereafter.

In scenario 2, in which climate neutrality is achieved, there are of course no more investment costs, but from this point onwards the savings in energy costs would take effect and energy efficiency would also increase.

We see this as our good news for Sunday! 💚