The German government has approved €177.5 billion (US$181 billion) in funding for a “climate and transformation fund” to be spent over the next four years aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while improving energy security as imports of Russian fossil fuels are reduced.

Spending next year is to be €35.4 billion, with about €17 billion to be spent on energy efficiency for existing buildings. Over the four years, €20 billion is to be spent on expanding the hydrogen sector and reducing ‘harmful industrial emissions’ (in the words of the Bloomberg report). The package also seems to cover €48 billion of scrapped levies that would have been raised from households and businesses to support additional renewables (thus helping to alleviate very high energy prices). Interestingly, the German government is also to trim subsidies for luxury electric vehicles from next year, keeping them only for the cheaper segment of the EV market.

Meanwhile, two oil-fired heating plants near Munich have been restarted by utility Stadtwerke München in an effort to save natural gas for the coming winter, with the Nord Stream 1 pipeline flowing at only 20% capacity. Coal plants have already been restarted in the country.