Germany needs to generate more renewable energy to reduce its reliance on fossil-fuel imports and deal with expected natural gas shortages, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.
Energy security will be an issue for “weeks, months and years to come,” Scholz said in a video message released Saturday.
Germany is building liquefied natural gas terminals, pumping more gas into storage systems and boosting the use of coal plants to cut reliance on Russian fuel amid surging energy prices and the threat of sudden supply halts.
Scholz has compared the price rises to the inflation crisis of the 1960s and 70s. His government has come up with a package of aid worth more than 30 billion euros ($30.6 billion) that includes waiving a surcharge on electricity, steeply discounting public-transport tickets and providing one-time payments of 100 euros per child and 300 euros for each income-tax payer, Bloomberg reported.
Germany will “be a climate-neutral, economically strong industrial nation,” Scholz said.
