Katherina Reiche’s misguided approach
Environment activists are still being labeled as “ideologists” by Economics Minister Katherina Reiche. However, the latest demonstrations by the “Fridays for Future” movement have once again demonstrated that the environment activists have the stronger arguments when it comes to the federal economics minister’s gas policy.
Reiche argues that the goal is to “reduce costs” and ensure “security of supply.” While these are certainly valid goals, neither will be achieved with this strategy. Until now, we have been as dependent on Putin’s Russia as we will be on Trump’s USA in the future if we have to purchase gas from there. And it will be expensive, too, because renewables such as solar and wind are unbeatably inexpensive. Gas-fired power plants are the most expensive solution for ensuring security of supply. And natural gas is as harmful to the climate as coal or oil. And the costs of climate catastrophe are getting higher and higher.
Today, we have to protect ourselves from Putin with weapons, but we have made ourselves dependent on him with oil and gas. Without energy autonomy, there will be no security in the future.
The gas lie is pure ideology. Slowing down the transition to renewable energies is both economically and ecologically wrong, a misguided approach. It is always surprising how difficult it is for politicians to learn from the mistakes of the past. A “rollback” (Süddeutsche Zeitung, September 20, 2025) will not bring us closer to climate protection. The future lies solely in renewables and a rapid transition to a 100% energy transition – i.e., solar and wind power, electric cars, solar-generated hydrogen, and heat pumps. The economic arguments for the energy transition should be particularly convincing to a minister of economic affairs.
But she says she wants innovation. So why isn’t she changing course? She says she is concerned about jobs. But it has long been proven that decentralized renewable energies create far more jobs than are lost in the old centralized energy industry. The jobs of the future will only be created by truly innovative companies, not through the ideological lens of the German Minister of Economic Affairs.
Ms. Reiche, you are pursuing the wrong path. With ideology, repression, and dependence on old energy giants, there can be no bright future for Germany. Globally, 92% of all newly built energy capacity is currently renewable. Despite Reiche, there is reason for optimism. However, if we want things to be good, we have to be even better.
Source
Franz Alt 2025 | Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
