"The e-fuels debate is being waged as a religious war"

"The way is clear: Europe remains technology-neutral," said Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) after the traffic light government had reached an agreement with the EU Commission on Friday in the combustion dispute. Even after 2035, new cars with combustion engines may be registered - provided they use greenhouse gas-neutral fuels such as e-fuels.

How promising synthetic fuels are - and what role they can play on the way to climate neutrality was the topic of the ARD political talk "Anne Will" on Sunday evening. "No more gas, oil, diesel and petrol - does the traffic light have a plan for this?" was the question asked by the members of the Bundestag Jürgen Trittin (Greens), Konstantin Kuhle (FDP) and Jens Spahn (CDU) as well as the "Zeit" Journalist Petra Pinzler and Lamia Messari-Becker, Professor of Building Technology and Building Physics discussed.

"I'm glad he managed to do that," said FDP politician Kuhle at the beginning of the show, praising his fellow party member Wissing, who insisted on exceptions for vehicles that use synthetic fuels. Thanks to the FDP, an “additional technology for climate protection” is available, Kuhle was convinced.

Kuhle criticized the discussion about e-fuels: "This whole e-fuels debate is always being waged as a religious war between those who only want e-mobility and those who allegedly only want e-fuels." FDP always subordinate. "But that's not true at all," says Kuhle. The expansion of electric mobility in Germany and the European Union is of central importance. However, e-fuels are a supplement - and are also required for ships, aircraft and the existing fleet with combustion engines.

With regard to e-mobility, Green Party politician Jürgen Trittin sees a “terrible backlog” that needs to be addressed as soon as possible. In his opinion, there is a demand for e-fuels above all in industry: "We need them for BASF," says Trittin. However, the former Federal Minister for the Environment was satisfied that the “hanging game” at European level had ended.

The CDU member of the Bundestag Jens Spahn contradicted this representation. "Germany has lost a lot of its reputation through this approach," criticized the deputy chairman of the Union parliamentary group. "A lot of damage" was caused at the procedural level.

In addition to the party politicians, Lamia Messari-Becker, who made keynote speeches several times, also caught the eye. The expert for building technology and building physics called it a "basic mistake" that the energy transition is focused on electricity. "Openness to technology is what characterizes this country," says Messari-Becker.

For its energy requirements, Germany needs ten times as much energy as it produces. According to the scientist, it is impossible to supply buildings, industry and transport only with electricity. However, diversification can ensure security of supply. In the heating sector, she listed district heating, geothermal energy or hydrogen from in-house photovoltaic electricity in this context.

The group reacted to the engineer's presentation by coming to terms with the past. The "Zeit" journalist Pinzler criticized that the issue of the heat transition had been "overslept for many years under the Merkel government". Horst Seehofer (CDU) "simply did nothing" as housing minister.

The CDU has "completely slowed down" renewable energies, also criticized Trittin. Above all, the former Economics Minister Peter Altmaier (CDU) drove the "photovoltaic industry out of Germany", which cost 100,000 jobs. An accusation that CDU politician Jens Spahn rejected. "We have achieved more than twice as much" as Trittin as Minister for 2020 "issued as a goal and slogan".

Scientist Messari-Becker prompted the statements to a sweeping attack: "We need a heat transition, which everyone involved who is sitting at the table have prevented." This should have started 30 years ago, she criticized. But since this was delayed and now only the heat pump is being propagated, Germany is running towards an artificial shortage - towards "a bottleneck that is killing us". This would result in “social hardship without major climate protection”.

In order to cushion the consequences, the scientist advocated a slower approach - and addressed an appeal to those responsible in politics: "My problem is the speed. I ask you to just give people more time and more options to go along with it.”

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