(Reuters) – Voters in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, go to the polls on Feb. 23 in what marks the first elections since Berlin severed its ties with Russia, its decades-long gas supplier.
Here is how major parties outline their energy policies:
CDU/CSU
The conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), who run with Bavarian sister party CSU in the election, promise to cut power prices by 5 euro cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) or more, equivalent to roughly 12% of 2024 prices.
The party proposes to cut power grid fees that add to customers’ costs, partly by raising carbon emissions permit prices, while offering private capital incentives to invest in power grids. Both parties also want reconsider nuclear energy, which was abandoned in 2022, and may revoke a ban on fossil car fuels from 2035.
CDU leader Friedrich Merz has said a fast shift to hydrogen would not be successful.
AFD
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has said gas, oil heating systems, and hard coal power stations should be kept running. It wants to continue domestic brown coal mining and reverse the withdrawal from nuclear energy.
It says the current ruling coalition’s “ideological” plans for a transformation towards renewable energy depend on state hand-outs, and will lead to poverty, de-industrialisation and deepen import dependency.
AfD wants to leave the Paris climate agreement, cut energy taxes, and restart the Nord Stream gas import pipelines from Russia under the Baltic Sea.
The party’s chancellor candidate Alice Weidel has said she would “tear down” wind turbines to save on grid fees that reflect renewables expansion.
SPD
The Social Democrats (SPD) say they would continue to subsidise renewable energy, with a transformation fund reimbursing consumers many of the fees collected from them via taxes and levies.
The party wants to loosen constitutional limits on public debt, so-called debt brake, to raise more money for energy subsidies and remains committed to a green transformation.
It wants to encourage purchases of German-made electric cars with a temporary tax deduction.
GREENS
The Greens party wants to continue promoting renewable energy. It is advanced in its planning for a capacity market design to complement planned gas-to-power plants that should act as a backup to offset volatile wind and solar electricity.
The party wants to promote electric cars, heat pumps, energy sharing and efficiency, as well as to continue support for low-income consumers. It looks to fund its green policies with more state borrowing.
(Reporting by Vera Eckert; Editing by Christoph Steitz and Tomasz Janowski)
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