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ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE
TOPIC
GREENTECH – A SECTOR WITH A FUTURE
Both the economy and the labour market are
Overall the latter is shaped by small to me-
benefitting from the leading role Germany
dium-size enterprises, though corporations
plays in technologies for environmental pro-
such as Siemens are important players. Under
tection, renewable energies, and the efficient
the label “GreenTech Made in Germany” the
use of resources. The environment sector is
companies are posting considerable export
making a considerable contribution to sus-
successes; their share of the global market is
tainable growth and is helping the develop-
around 15 percent. With an “Environmental
ment of new technologies – in the fields of
Technology Export Initiative” Germany in-
energy generation, ICT, and materials tech-
tends to improve its situation still further
nology. Around t wo million people work in
and would like to position itself primarily as
the environmental technology sector; al-
an integrated solutions provider.
most every fifth job is labelled “green”. This
puts Germany among the ten leading coun-
Electromobility will be an important
tries in terms of empl oyment in the various
future issue in the environmental sector
segments of the renewable energy sector.
Electromobility is also expected to give environmental and climate protection a further boost. The electromobility of the future
NUMBER
1.79 million
kilometres is the length of the German
national grid. You could circumnavigate the globe at the Equator 45 times
using the cables. The vast majority of
the grid, namely a total of 1.44 million
kilometres or 80 percent, is underground. Around 350,000 kilometres are
power lines. The supra-regional highvoltage lines are 34,810 kilometres
long. About 2,650 kilometres of new
power lines are being planned as part
of the Energy Reform.
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is likewise a key issue being addressed today
in China, Japan, and North America. The
Federal Government and the automotive
industry are jointly pursuing the ambitious
goal of making Germany the leading market for electromobility and locking into the
immense potential this global market has
to offer. The plan is for there to be around
one million electric cars on Germany’s
roads by 2020, helping lower carbon dioxide
emissions still further, a sixth of which
stems from road traffic. The German car
manufacturers are addressing e-mobility
concepts in great depth and have around 29
electric models in their ranges (as at the end
of 2015), including vehicles such as the