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Chancellor Merz began 2025 with grand pronouncements, but the CDU quickly became fractured, its poll numbers plummeted, and the SPD dominated political decision-making. The promised reforms failed to materialize, and migration dominated the debates. Merz promised relief that never came, and virtually every campaign promise was broken. After just 10 months in office, Chancellor Merz […]

Hydrogen is considered the driving force behind the energy transition, but hydrogen emissions can worsen the climate balance. The reason lies in methane degradation, as additional reactions alter the atmosphere’s chemistry. At the same time, leaks along production, transport, and storage remain a real vulnerability, and soil microbes, acting as a carbon sink, determine the

In an interview with the “Augsburger Allgemeine,” economist Lars Feld describes an industrial crisis that, while building slowly, then hits hard. He cites 150,000 job losses as an interim figure, linking this to location costs, stalled reforms, and the ban on combustion engines. For Feld, symbolic politics are less important than the competitiveness of businesses.

At the Pentagon, China’s battery dominance is now considered a security issue because many batteries and intermediate products come from China and because alternatives are lacking. This poses a security risk, as a supply disruption could hamper procurement and operational readiness. At the same time, pressure is increasing from data centers that require 24/7 power

Gascade filled a 400-kilometer pipeline with hydrogen at the end of December 2025, but no customer has booked any capacity. A total of €428.5 million in investment costs was budgeted for the three sections. The infrastructure for hydrogen in the core network is now in place. Nevertheless, there is not a single contract with a

Sixt is responding to a new initiative from the EU Commission, as the draft targets large vehicle fleets from 2030 onwards. This brings the ban on combustion engines for many new registrations within reach sooner, and at the same time, the available charging infrastructure will determine whether the electric fleet functions reliably in the rental

Cooperative banks, especially Volksbanken, are considered stable because of their regional roots and their financing of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, several cases show that risk management and controls are not keeping pace everywhere, while at the same time the economy is slowing down their core business. Discussions with industry experts also reveal that

Solar subsidies have massively accelerated the expansion of photovoltaics in Germany, and they now shape electricity prices and grid expansion. Feed-in tariffs, the EEG surcharge, grid fees, and periods of low wind and solar output are closely intertwined. Understanding this system also reveals its weaknesses. The German government is providing almost €30 billion for such

Stutensee is the latest municipality to withdraw from the district heating network project, as performance, timeline, and economic viability no longer align. Previously, Bruchsal and Bretten had already announced their withdrawal from the large-scale project. The project development company was intended to bring district heating from deep geothermal sources to the region, with the municipal

Japan is planning a major overhaul, with solar parks set to receive less funding from government programs in the future. At the same time, Tokyo intends to re-evaluate environmental protection, feed-in tariff regulations, perovskite mining, and conflict zones like Hokkaido to safeguard landscapes and make projects safer. (reuters: 24.12.25) Local conflicts are accelerating the change

Employment has been declining for 21 months, and job cuts in the metal industry remain the dominant issue in the metal and electrical engineering sector. Oliver Zander of Gesamtmetall attributes this development to excessively high energy costs for industry and taxes, while also warning of increasing EU bureaucracy, as this slows down processes and further

The Bundesbank is issuing an unusually sharp warning. It considers Chancellor Merz’s fiscal policy risky. Politicians are accepting a growing budget deficit, even though the debt brake could foreseeably be violated. This is precisely where the danger of a constitutional crisis arises. This combination of high levels of new debt, growing uncertainty, and a lack

The German government plans to spend a record €29.5 billion in 2026 to stabilize electricity prices, cover rising energy transition costs, relieve pressure on industrial electricity, and cushion increasingly frequent surplus electricity. This scale is unprecedented, significantly exceeding previous aid programs. However, there is growing concern that short-term relief without structural reforms will lead to

The insect farm was intended to be Europe’s flagship project for sustainable protein production, but despite millions of euros in public subsidies and several hundred million euros in private financing, the venture failed. In total, more than $620 million was invested in the project. For years, the insect farm was considered an innovative project, but

The new active pension scheme is supposedly modern, secures the future, and motivates older people to continue working. But it only applies to employees. The self-employed remain excluded. With this, policymakers are deliberately creating a two-tier society for the elderly. They are exacerbating inequality instead of resolving it, and they are ignoring economic reality at