Your Daily Dose of Climate Hope: September 17, 2024
Germany's example of good permitting reform!
Germany passed federal permitting reform legislation in 2022, and its renewables buildout has zoomed ahead since then.
Tell Congress about Germany’s example of successful permitting reform!
Touch or scan the QR code below to take today’s action in the app and earn trees!
Or take action on the Internet – no app required!
Reasons For Hope
A few years ago, the renewables buildout in Germany was suffocating under a morass of paperwork. The time to get permits had doubled since 2017, and in one infamous case, a project to build three individual wind turbines ended up requiring 36,000 pages of printed-out documents to get a permit. This is a common problem around the world, with permitting delays a major factor in creating the USA’s gigantic backlog of cleantech projects that people want to build but can’t.
But then, in 2022, Germany’s federal government passed comprehensive permitting reform legislation. Among other actions, they designated renewables projects as a national security interest, consolidated the required environmental reviews to one review, simplified the grid-planning process, and generally reduced the red tape.
Since these permitting reforms, the renewables buildout in Germany has taken off, rising from less than 10 GW in 2021 to nearly 20 GW in 2023, outpacing all peer European countries, and likely just beginning to accelerate as more projects get to move forward under the simpler system. (The simultaneous emergence of the apartment-friendly “balcony solar” trend in Germany will also help!).
Germany just gave us a great example of the immediate, substantial effects of good federal permitting reform legislation, providing valuable context for U.S. policymakers.
Tell Congress about Germany’s example of successful permitting reform!
You can also sign up for our How We Win Event Series on EventBrite!
