Election special for the 2017 federal election
On behalf of the DAtF, the Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Research conducted a representative survey in the run-up to the 2017 Bundestag elections. The study focussed on questions relating to the final disposal of highly radioactive waste as well as nuclear research in Germany and the export of nuclear products.
The study is based on a total of 1,421 face-to-face interviews with a representative cross-section of the population aged 16 and over. The interviews were conducted between 4 and 17 August 2017.
CDU/CSU
"At the G7 summit in Elmau two years ago, it was decided to decarbonise global energy production by the end of this century. In the long term, a large proportion of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas must be replaced by environmentally friendly energies."
Other resolution CDU party conference 2015"Scaling back the promotion and financing of coal-fired power plants worldwide"
The Bavarian Plan - CSU programme for the BTW 2017"We want to save energy, expand a diverse energy mix and further develop energy technology."
SPD
"By 2050 at the latest, we must generate energy that is largely greenhouse gas-neutral. (...) The complete energy transition will only succeed if conventional energy sources complement the expansion of renewable energies along the way. Natural gas, renewable gas from power-to-gas plants and the existing gas grid infrastructure are becoming increasingly important in the energy mix for flexible, secure and low-CO2 energy generation. Modern combined heat and power plants will play an important role in the energy system. We will therefore promote them accordingly."
ALLIANCE 90/THE GREENS
"By 2030, we want to cover our electricity needs entirely from renewable energies. (...) By 2050, the energy supply for buildings, mobility and process heat in industry should also come exclusively from renewable energies."
FDP
"We Free Democrats are in favour of a diverse energy mix and are open to new technologies, even if fossil fuels cannot be dispensed with in the foreseeable future. For us, renewable energies are an important element in the energy mix of the future."
THE LEFT
"We want a structural reform of the EEG with social components and want to increase the share of green electricity to 43 per cent by 2020, 70 per cent by 2030 and 100 per cent by 2040."
AfD
Policy programme 2016"The AfD does not want to favour or discriminate against individual energy sources. We want to abolish the prioritised feed-in of electricity in general. We reject quota/auction models in order to enforce state-planned economic goals in energy policy."
CDU/CSU
"An economic and industrialised country like Germany needs a secure, affordable and clean energy supply in the long term. (...) In addition to the further expansion of renewable energies, we want to further develop sector coupling: controlling production and demand and linking electricity generation with areas such as transport, buildings and heating (so-called sector coupling) are becoming increasingly important. This will effectively limit costs and further increase security of supply. (...) The energy transition will be far more successful if we use digitalisation to network the generation, marketing and consumption of energy. This will increase security of supply and limit costs."
The Bavarian Plan - CSU programme for the BTW 2017: "Through the energy transition, we are reducing dependencies and strengthening regional value creation. A citizen-owned energy supply is an important basis for the acceptance of the energy transition. We must guarantee security of supply, in particular through the rapid construction of the transmission grids. Bavaria has prioritised underground cabling. We are preserving the unique image of our Bavarian landscape. We also need more underground cabling for alternating current lines. Landowners should receive appropriate compensation through recurring remuneration in the form of permanent payments."
SPD
"Energy must be environmentally friendly and affordable. At the same time, the reliable supply must remain secure. For us, these are three equally important goals of the energy transition."
ALLIANCE 90/THE GREENS
"By reforming the electricity market, we are creating new incentives to use or store energy flexibly and effectively when a lot of solar and wind power is available. At these times, we want to top up storage facilities or convert electricity into heat or gas to heat homes or power vehicles. We want to support highly efficient and increasingly renewable combined heat and power generation so that it can react ever more flexibly to the electricity market and thus supplement the electricity from wind and sun. We are making it possible to generate electricity and heat from renewable sources. (...) At the same time, the generation and distribution of electricity in Europe must be better networked. The sun shines and the wind does not always blow. From a European perspective, however, there is a major equalising effect. If the weather and climate regions in Europe from the Atlantic to the Baltic, from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia are better interlinked, then the need for storage and reserve power plants will also decrease."
FDP
"With the phase-out of nuclear energy and the rapid expansion of renewable energy sources, the load on the electricity grids has increased considerably. (...) In line with the polluter pays principle, we are calling for all energy producers to take more responsibility for grid stability. (...) We Free Democrats want to achieve security of supply through competition and are against state intervention to provide sufficient power plant capacity. We do not want a state-determined capacity and climate reserve that merely cures the symptoms of the failed energy transition. We are in favour of renewable energy sources assuming system responsibility in future and ensuring the security of their electricity supply themselves. In open power markets, all electricity suppliers should have to secure the power promised to consumers under all conditions by means of supply guarantees. In this way, the required capacity is provided efficiently in a market economy. By making supply guarantees tradable, we also want to enable small providers to guarantee supply. This eliminates the need for a planned capacity market."
AfD
"The natural, technical and economic and therefore foreseeable problems of the energy transition, such as further rising prices, jeopardised grid stability, increasing risk of power outages and a lack of large-scale storage facilities, remain unresolved."
CDU/CSU
"The Paris Climate Agreement of 2015 is the greatest success to date of international efforts to limit global warming. (...) At the G7 summit in Elmau two years ago, it was decided to decarbonise global energy production by the end of this century. (...) We are sticking to our existing energy and climate targets and are implementing them step by step. This also applies to the climate protection plan adopted in 2016."
The Bavarian Plan - CSU programme for the BTW 2017"We support the European climate target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 to 95 per cent by 2050. Internationally, the greatest success to date in efforts to limit global warming is the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015. We need a package of measures to achieve the target: Project funding for local authorities and businesses, expansion of natural CO2 reservoirs and more climate research. Climate protection must be coordinated internationally, especially in emissions trading."
SPD
"At the 2015 climate summit in Paris, the United Nations agreed on a greenhouse gas-neutral global economy. This means that only as many greenhouse gases may be produced as are absorbed by nature in the same period. In Germany, we want to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels, and we want to achieve greenhouse gas neutrality as far as possible by 2050. In line with the Paris Agreement, we will therefore continue to develop the Climate Action Plan 2050. (...) We will implement the results of this dialogue within the framework of a national climate protection law. This will also include a review of environmentally harmful and competition-distorting subsidies. (...) We will further develop European emissions trading so that it can fulfil its function as a central climate protection instrument. If this cannot be achieved, we will enter into negotiations to agree minimum CO2 prices at European level. In doing so, we will take into account different competitive conditions in climate protection and prevent carbon leakage. (...) We will make Germany the most energy-efficient economy in the world. We want to develop the public building stock and local public transport into models of sustainable and energy-efficient consumption."
ALLIANCE 90/THE GREENS
"In order to be able to achieve the internationally agreed German climate target for 2020, we will immediately take the 20 dirtiest coal-fired power plants off the grid and cap the CO2 emissions of the remaining coal-fired power plants in line with the climate targets. We will phase out coal in line with our goal of 100 per cent renewable energies in the electricity sector by 2030. (...) We Greens want to bring the Paris Agreement to life. The central instrument for this is a nationwide climate protection law, as we Greens have already introduced at state level, first in North Rhine-Westphalia and then in numerous other federal states. In this way, we describe the climate protection pathway up to 2050 and set binding and plannable targets. (...) In addition to the national climate targets, the European targets must also be adapted to the Paris agreements to save the climate. A CO2 reduction of at least 95 per cent compared to 1990 must be mandatory for all 27 EU member states by 2050. (...) From 2030, only zero-emission cars should be newly registered. (...) By 2050, the energy supply for buildings, mobility and industry will also come exclusively from renewable energies."
FDP
"We Free Democrats are in favour of a sensible, internationally coordinated policy based on the Paris climate protection agreement and reject national solo efforts. We want to further develop emissions trading as a global climate protection instrument and gain international cooperation partners for this. We will only succeed in this if we set ourselves realistic long-term targets and refrain from unnecessary market intervention. Technically, there are many ways to protect the climate. In our view, all socially accepted technologies and energy sources that can hold their own in a market economy and guarantee a secure energy supply are equally suitable. We therefore also reject technical requirements for greenhouse gas reduction at European Union level and are in favour of dispensing with subsidies for avoidance technologies."
THE LEFT
"We want Germany to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels, by 60 per cent by 2030 and by 95 per cent by 2050. These targets must be enshrined in a climate protection law. The German government's Climate Action Plan 2050 must also be tightened in line with the ambitions of the UN Paris Agreement and backed up with effective measures. (...) DIE LINKE is calling for a national coal phase-out law with the following key points: The gradual coal phase-out begins in 2018 and the last coal-fired power plant must be taken off the grid by 2035 at the latest. Part of the law is a ban on the construction of new coal-fired power plants as well as the new development and expansion of opencast lignite mines."
AfD
"The Paris Climate Agreement of 12 December 2015 must be cancelled. Germany should withdraw from all state and private "climate protection" organisations and withdraw all support from them."
CDU/CSU
"An economic and industrialised country like Germany needs a secure, affordable and clean energy supply in the long term. (...) The market-based reorganisation of the subsidy system has drastically reduced the expansion costs for offshore wind, onshore wind and photovoltaic systems. (...) Electricity must remain affordable for all companies, businesses and private consumers in the long term. To this end, we are consistently pursuing the market-based introduction and system integration of renewable electricity generation. (...) Germany must remain a standardised electricity price zone. Accelerated grid expansion and the elimination of bottlenecks are our top priority. This will enable us to reduce costs considerably."
Other resolution of the CSU party conference 2016: "Maintaining the single electricity price zone between Germany and Austria"
The Bavarian Plan - CSU programme for the BTW 2017: "The energy supply must not only be safe and clean, but must also remain affordable. Germany must remain a standardised electricity price zone. We need an electricity price brake. We need a system change in the promotion of renewable energies via the EEG towards more market and competition. We want to put the expansion of renewable energies on a new, reliable footing while protecting the status quo, and the energy transition must not be disproportionately detrimental to citizens and the economy or jeopardise jobs. Special exemptions for energy-intensive companies must be retained."
SPD
"Energy must be environmentally friendly and affordable. At the same time, the reliable supply must remain secure. For us, these are three equally important goals of the energy transition."
ALLIANCE 90/THE GREENS
"The green EEG is also a success story because it has drastically reduced the cost of solar and wind power worldwide and thus made a significant contribution to sustainable development. (...) That is why we want to exhaust all possibilities under EU law to free renewable energy projects from the bureaucratic obligation to tender and unauthorised levies. (...) We will minimise the billions in electricity price discounts for industry and instead relieve the burden on consumers, tradespeople and SMEs."
FDP
"We Free Democrats want to relieve the burden on electricity consumers and therefore reduce the electricity tax to the European minimum level. (...) In order to avoid rising costs in the future, renewable energies must be better integrated into the market, i.e. in line with consumption and capacity. (...) The current system of grid financing must be reformed so that citizens and companies are finally relieved. The burden of grid expansion must also be reduced to an unavoidable level. For example, we want to reduce the burden on citizens with regard to the grid levy. To this end, the operators of generation plants should bear (at least part of) the costs for the grid connection. (...) Electricity should be produced where the site conditions allow the lowest costs. (...) Permanent subsidy systems such as the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) hinder the implementation of new ideas and must therefore be abolished."
THE LEFT
"We want to control electricity prices more closely and make energy affordable for everyone. (...) Low-cost base tariffs will be created for the average consumption of electricity, water and heating energy. (...) Electricity prices must be monitored more closely and made more socially just. (...) We want to abolish unjustified industrial discounts in eco-tax, grid charges, emissions trading or in the Renewable Energy Sources Act at the expense of private households and the public budget. We want to reduce the electricity tax for private consumers."
AfD
"Germany has electricity prices that inevitably continue to rise with every additional wind and solar power plant and grid expansion. In 2015, the market value of green electricity generated under the state's planned economy totalled 3.3 billion euros. Together with the EEG subsidies, this green electricity cost consumers 27.5 billion euros (source: BMWi). These subsidies flow to the profiteers of the energy transition and will cost each four-person household 25,000 euros by 2025. This represents a redistribution from the bottom to the top. The additional economic costs of the planned energy transition in the electricity sector alone will total several trillion euros by 2050."
Policy programme 2016"We want to abolish the electricity tax and thus provide immediate relief for electricity customers."
CDU/CSU
"The decision to phase out the use of nuclear energy for power generation, which we took in 2011, was the right one and is supported by a broad majority of the population. We have thus brought a decades-long debate to a conciliatory conclusion and will have completed the phase-out by 2023 as planned."
SPD
"The last German nuclear power plant will be shut down in 2022. (...) We will actively campaign with other countries to phase out nuclear energy. In the EU, we will campaign for the abolition of subsidies for the construction of new nuclear power plants."
ALLIANCE 90/THE GREENS
"As we move into the new world of electricity, we want to leave the nuclear past behind us once and for all. The last nuclear power plant in Germany will be taken off the grid in 2022. We also want to ensure that no more electricity is transferred to the Emsland and Brokdorf nuclear power plants, which are clogging up the grids for green electricity with their nuclear power. As long as nuclear power plants are still in operation, they must meet the highest safety standards. That is why we want to shut down the Grundremmingen nuclear power plant immediately due to the irregular safety deficiencies in earthquake resistance and emergency and residual heat removal. Subsidising nuclear power must come to an end. We want to achieve this by reintroducing the nuclear fuel rod tax. (...) We want to adapt the Euratom Treaty, in which the privileges of nuclear power are enshrined, to the present day. If this cannot be achieved, we will campaign for Germany to withdraw from Euratom. (...) We will only end our fight against nuclear power when the nuclear phase-out has been achieved - in Germany, Europe and worldwide. The nuclear phase-out is therefore also foreign policy. (...) However, the Gundremmingen boiling water reactor poses a particular risk. As do the scrap reactors on our borders, such as Tihange and Doel in Belgium, Fessenheim and Cattenom in France, Beznau in Switzerland and Temelin in the Czech Republic. We are campaigning for them to be taken off the grid immediately."
THE LEFT
"The phase-out of nuclear power must be enshrined in the Basic Law and all nuclear power plants in operation must be shut down immediately. We are in favour of a pan-European plan for the decommissioning of nuclear power plants. (...) We are in favour of the nuclear phase-out in Europe and all over the world."
AfD
"We therefore do not want to decommission the existing nuclear power plants before the end of their useful life. (...) The service life of safe nuclear power plants must be based on their technical service life."
Policy programme 2016"The hasty decisions to phase out nuclear power in 2002 and 2011 were not objectively justified and were economically damaging. As long as the power supply is not secured at the place and time of demand, the AfD is in favour of allowing a transitional extension of the operating life of the nuclear power plants still in operation. Importing electricity from unsafe foreign nuclear power plants makes no sense for Germany as a business location, nor does it contribute to reducing the risks associated with nuclear power."
CDU/CSU
"With the Repository Search Act of 2013, we have created a reliable framework for action. With the transfer of a large part of the power plant operators' waste disposal provisions to the federal government, which was decided in 2016, we are securing the necessary financial conditions for this."
SPD
"We must deal with the nuclear waste left behind in a responsible manner for society as a whole. This applies not least to the companies that have made a lot of money from nuclear power plants for decades. The black-yellow exit from the phase-out has resulted in a loss of seven billion euros due to the cancellation of the nuclear fuel rod tax alone. Passing this on to taxpayers is irresponsible. By human standards, the final disposal of nuclear waste must be safe forever."
ALLIANCE 90/THE GREENS
"However, the end of nuclear power plant operation is by no means the end of the nuclear age. We need a final repository for the highly hazardous nuclear waste. The Repository Search Act initiated by Winfried Kretschmann and the results of the Repository Commission have created a good basis for this: Safety criteria have priority in the search that is now beginning and citizens in the affected regions will be involved on an equal footing in an open-ended search process. We will find the best possible repository. And this cannot and will not be Gorleben, because we have ensured strict scientific criteria in the search for a repository. Until the best possible final repository is found, nuclear waste needs the best possible interim storage. We will initiate a process involving the federal states, the local authorities and civil society to decide how the world's most dangerous waste should be handled until final disposal. We are also committed to the safe dismantling of decommissioned nuclear power plants in Germany."
THE LEFT
"No storage in the "final repository" Schacht Konrad in Salzgitter. Gorleben must be abandoned as an unsuitable and politically burnt site. Nuclear waste storage cannot be imposed from above and without the participation of those affected and those active in the anti-nuclear movement. DIE LINKE supports an open debate involving all those affected about the storage of all types of nuclear waste with the greatest possible safety and the goal of a social consensus. This requires comprehensive participation and the right to appeal in all phases of the search procedure to be developed.
The costs of decommissioning and dismantling nuclear facilities must be borne by the nuclear companies. The highest level of radiation protection and safety must apply and comprehensive public participation must be made possible that goes beyond existing nuclear law. We reject the uncontrolled release of low-level radioactive waste during the dismantling of plants. The protracted search for a final nuclear waste repository requires longer interim storage of highly radioactive waste. We must counter the resulting growing risks with improved safety concepts for interim storage. This first requires a comprehensive social dialogue."
AfD
"The recyclable nuclear power plant residues must be stored in a retrievable manner for recycling."
Policy programme 2016Radioactive waste should be stored in a decentralised, accessible and catalogued manner in secure locations where it can be accessed at any time so that it can be reprocessed with technical progress. We believe that centralised disposal in a location that will be virtually inaccessible at a later date is the wrong approach.
CDU/CSU
"Research and innovation are the basis for growth and prosperity. (...) By 2025, we will increase research and development expenditure to a total of 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product. (...) We will enable tax incentives for research totalling 2 billion euros."
SPD
"Because we know that social, economic and ecological issues cannot be successfully addressed individually, but only by taking into account their interdependencies. In this context, we are committed to technological neutrality and openness to innovation. (...) We are committed to ensuring that at least 40 per cent of management positions in science are held by women. That is why we want a binding quota for all federal measures that have a direct impact on personnel. (...) We want to support small and medium-sized companies financially through a "research bonus" if they hire staff for research and development. (...) In addition, we will also further expand the existing research and innovation programmes. And we will improve the write-off options for research and development expenditure for companies and the self-employed. (...) By 2025, we want to spend 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product on research and development. (...) We want to create additional opportunities for the federal government to directly fund research institutions at universities. We will double federal research funding for universities of applied sciences. We want to continue the programme allowance (overhead) for projects funded by the German Research Foundation after 2020. (...) They (researchers) need scientific autonomy and financial planning security for their work. However, researchers should also be given more leeway to choose and pursue their research topics independently of short-sighted prospects of benefit and commercialisation opportunities. To this end, we will work with the scientific community to create a new funding approach in which potentially disruptive innovations can be trialled directly and unbureaucratically."
ALLIANCE 90/THE GREENS
"Science and research as providers of ideas, pioneers and critical companions therefore need room for manoeuvre. (...) Since a new application of nuclear technologies is out of the question for us Greens, we want to stop investing taxpayers' money in research into nuclear fusion, transmutation or fourth-generation reactors. Germany must get out of ITER, which is a multi-billion euro grave. (...) In addition to project and start-up funding, we also want to provide tax incentives for research activities in small and medium-sized enterprises in order to mobilise the creative potential and inventive spirit there even more strongly. Their research and development expenditure is to be subsidised in future through a tax credit of 15 percent."
FDP
"Research needs freedom, that's the only way we can make progress. (...) We Free Democrats want to introduce tax incentives for research that are open to all technologies. This would allow companies in Germany to receive a certain percentage of their personnel expenses for research and development (R&D) as a tax credit (research premium). (...) We want the research premium to be offset against the tax liability or - in the event of a loss - paid out as negative income tax."
Resolution of the FDP Federal Executive Committee "For a sustainable energy policy" of 6 June 2017"Using these resources sparingly creates time to develop and test new and more efficient technology options, such as the storage or conversion of electricity generated from renewable sources, but also fusion energy and innovations to improve efficiency in the entire transport sector."
THE LEFT
"Chronic underfunding means that the space for independent and socially critical research and teaching, and therefore an essential function of science, is falling by the wayside. Research without third-party funding is hardly possible any more. (...) We want a diverse programme and are committed to critical science and teaching that intervenes in the interests of a socially just, ecologically sustainable and peaceful world. (...) Research for peace instead of for war and the arms industry: We demand the establishment of civilian clauses at all universities and scientific institutions as well as the promotion of peace research."
AfD
"Extensive participation in international research projects must be ensured in order to maintain nuclear expertise."
Policy programme 2016We want to re-authorise research into nuclear energy and reactor and power plant technology. It goes without saying that the necessary safety standards must be complied with. (...) Freedom of research and teaching are essential prerequisites for scientific progress. That is why universities must be free to decide on the type and scope of their study programmes. The scientific community must be protected from excessive bureaucratic regulations and science must be free from ideological constraints. The ethos of science, which includes the ability to criticise, impartiality and respect for other scientists and their achievements, must be strengthened."
ALLIANCE 90/THE GREENS
"We will only end our fight against nuclear power once the nuclear phase-out has been achieved - in Germany, Europe and worldwide."
AfD
"Extensive participation in international research projects must be ensured in order to maintain nuclear expertise."
SPD
"In Germany, we will regulate the Hermes credit guarantees for exports in such a way that nuclear energy projects are excluded."
ALLIANCE 90/THE GREENS
"That is why we also want to end the operation of the uranium enrichment plant in Gronau and the fuel element factory in Lingen, which still supply the whole of Europe with radioactive fuel, as quickly as possible, definitively and with legal certainty. (...) The nuclear phase-out in Germany is incomplete as long as we continue to supply Europe's nuclear reactors with fuel elements. As Greens, we therefore want to close the uranium enrichment plant in Gronau and the fuel element factory in Lingen."
THE LEFT
"We want to ban the import and export of uranium fuel for the operation of nuclear power plants and nuclear waste. The production of uranium fuel in the plants in Gronau and Lingen, which have so far been excluded from the nuclear phase-out, must be stopped. The Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) must not subsidise nuclear power plants abroad."
English (UK) 
Deutsch (Sie)