Fuels of the Future 2020
January 20th and 21st in Berlin
The topic of fuels of the future was discussed at the 17th International Renewable Mobility Congress 2020 against the background of the climate protection package of the German government and the green deal of the EU Commission. Since the European Green Deal aims to achieve sustainable and intelligent mobility throughout Europe, but the combustion engine will continue to play an important role in the coming years, renewable fuels are essential for defossilizing the transport sector. In the propulsion mix, electricity-based fuels will contribute to reducing emissions and the adaptability of the transport sector – however, the right framework must be created for this. In order to exploit the full climate protection potential of energy sources and to advance the optimization of climate-friendly drive technologies, renewable fuel shares must be taken into account when regulating the CO2 fleet, for example.
At the specialist congress, numerous representatives from politics, business and industry discussed and lectured on solutions for the mobility of the future.
Dr. Tamara Zieschang, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, called for an open-minded approach to technology and drive in her input on climate protection goals in traffic and warned against a premature decision on a single solution. Zieschang emphasized that e-mobility is not the right drive for all applications and emphasized the importance of e-fuels for the turnaround in traffic. Prof. Henning Kagermann, chairman of the „National Platform Future of Mobility“ presented the results of the expert commission to date. According to their estimates, e-fuels can save up to 10 million tons of CO2 by 2050 – making them indispensable for the turnaround in traffic. Dr. Jörg Adolf from Shell Deutschland Oil GmbH spoke about the importance of alternative fuels for the mineral oil industry. With a view to the climate protection goals, he named electricity, hydrogen, biofuels, GtL-based fuels and fossil gas as energy sources of the future.
With the subject of vehicle fleet perspectives and CO2 targets for new vehicles, Prof. Christian Küchen, General Manager of the Petroleum Industry Association, aimed to achieve at least 15-20% alternative fuels by 2030. To do this, exporting countries would have to be offered a worthwhile alternative to fossil fuels. In addition to the technical possibilities, the necessary political framework conditions for e-fuels were also discussed at the congress. Carsten Müller, member of the Bundestag’s Committee on Economic and Energy Affairs, spoke out in favor of immediate measures to bring e-fuels to the market. Politicians urgently need to create framework conditions – only in this way can Germany maintain its pioneering role in the technology sector.
We very much welcome the fact that the discussion about the energy transition in politics, business, industry and research is taking a constructive and pragmatic direction and was able to take many exciting impulses from various directions for our further work from lectures and numerous conversations.