Endorsement of transformation of the energy sector

The survey of 1,000 decision-makers provides a meaningful insight into the energy supply of German companies, the prevailing attitudes within these companies regarding energy policy issues and the fundamental willingness to invest in renewable energies.

Agreement with the energy revolution
On the issue of the energy revolution, the decision-makers surveyed are largely in agreement: 82 percent consider it a duty of companies to advocate the energy revolution. 80 percent of respondents are also convinced that companies which use renewable energies have an image advantage and are more attractive to future employees (55 percent). Despite this basic agreement, most companies are still very hesitant to switch to renewable energies. Only 35 percent of respondents were employed in companies that use green energy and only 12 percent in companies that have already invested in energy efficiency measures.

Green energy supply remains the exception
The Energy Report Germany reveals considerable ignorance regarding the energy supply. 37 percent of the decision-makers surveyed did not know where the energy for their company comes from. 23 percent reported that their company uses only conventional electricity beyond the EEG share. In just five per cent of cases was the company fully supplied with green electricity from renewable sources. "For just over half of the decision-makers surveyed, the energy revolution and climate protection are obviously a non-issue," says Dr Volker Quaschning, energy expert at HTW Berlin, University of Applied Sciences. "These figures show that the complete decarbonization of Germany is still a long way off."

Investment in renewable energies can be improved
35 percent of respondents reported that their company already uses renewable energy. Another third is planning to switch to renewable energies, at least partially, in the next five years while the remaining 33 percent was not planning any change at the time of the survey. This group cited high costs as the main obstacle to investment (51 percent). “The assumption that converting to renewable energies is too expensive is stubbornly persisting," explains Günter Haug, Managing Director of BayWa r.e. "The results of the Energy Report also show that these fears are groundless. As a company specializing in renewable energies with a wide range of services for commercial customers, we consider it our task to provide information on this issue and to actively contribute to making German companies more sustainable."

An English summary of the key findings of the Energy Report Germany can be found here.