The Politics of Climate Change by Anthony Giddens Page B

production. 6
    In February 2009, the centre-right government announced it was putting new investment into nuclear plants as part of an ambitious new climate programme. The three opposition parties were against the proposal, which was endorsed in parliament by a narrow majority. In the wake of the radiation leaks at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan early in 2011, there were demonstrations against nuclear power in several Swedish cities. (For more details on the happenings at Fukushima, see below, pp. 133–4). The government, however is pushing ahead with its plans.
    Sweden is one of six EU member–states to have a carbon tax, which – together with nuclear power – helped cut emissionsfrom industry and energy production by about a third between 1970 and 1990. When the tax was introduced, in order to neutralize the overall fiscal effect, income taxes were cut by half. Sweden’s greenhouse gas emissions were 9 per cent lower in 2006, prior to the recession, than they were in 1990. Over that period the economy grew by 44 per cent.
    Sweden has adopted 16 environmental quality objectives, representing goals to be achieved by 2020. There are 72 interim targets to be met. Progress towards the objectives is monitored by the Environmental Objectives Council. Reducing carbon emissions brooks large among these, but they also cover other aspects, such as air quality, the soil, the forests and the Baltic Sea, which is a site of very heavy pollution.
Germany
    Germany was the original home of the greens and has proved to be an environmental leader, especially among the bigger countries. Since the mid-1980s there has been substantial agreement among Germany’s political parties about the need to lower greenhouse gas emissions. A report published by a parliamentary commission in 1984, Protection of the Earth’s Atmosphere , set the tone for subsequent discussion, arguing for substantial reductions. 7
    The proportion of electricity generated from renewable sources grew from 6.3 per cent in 2000 to more than 14 per cent in 2011, and Germany is now the world’s biggest user of wind power, boasting some 20,000 wind turbines – wind generates about 6 per cent of the country’s total energy use. The country is also the world’s largest producer of photovoltaic solar power and has the fastest growing market in terms of domestic installations. The Waldpolenz Solar Park is the most extensive solar power installation in the world. The plant deploys thin-film technology and supplies about 40,000 megawatts of electricity a year. Almost 80 per cent of all European solar energy production capacity is in Germany.
    These achievements have been strongly influenced by the introduction of feed-in tariffs for renewable energy in the 1990s pioneered by industrialist Hermann Scheer. Anyone who attaches a renewable energy source to his or her propertycan have it connected to the grid at a subsidized rate fixed for 20 years. More than 300,000 private home-owners and small businesses have been incorporated into the scheme.
    Yet Germany faces significant problems in further building upon its successes. At the moment, the country is heavily reliant upon coal for energy production. Coal-fired power plants supply about half of Germany’s electricity, with nuclear energy making up 27 per cent. In September 2010 the German government issued an ‘Energy Concept’ document that set out energy strategies to 2050. Its aim is for renewable sources to supply 60 per cent of primary energy supply by that year. Achieving such a target would demand a quite fundamental change in the country’s energy system, because of the dominance of coal and the continuing use of lignite – ‘brown coal’. As of 2010 there were 22 coal or lignite power plants either under construction or in the detailed planning stage in Germany. The government is therefore pinning a lot of its hopes on carbon capture and storage