German Minister: We Can Decarbonize With Renewables Because "We Don't Have the...Koch Brothers"

http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/10/04/335769/german-state-minister-dont-have-the-koch-brothers/

German State Minister: We Can Decarbonize With Renewables Because “We Don’t Have the … Koch Brothers”
By Joe Romm on Oct 4, 2011 at 2:00 pm

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“The state government of Baden-Württemberg is extremely committed to the transition towards a low-carbon economy,” Franz Untersteller, state minister for the environment, climate and energy, said yesterday at the Center for American Progress. “We aim at decarbonizing our economy by midcentury.”

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“The great advantage we have in Germany at the moment is we really have the broad consensus in society that corresponds to the size of the task we face,” said Ulrich Luscher, who represents the CDU, the conservative party, on energy issues. “I definitely agree … that we have enormous possibilities for the economy in that (clean energy) sector.”

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Bracken Hendricks, a scholar with the Center for American Progress, says the German model shows that renewable energy can be ramped up quickly without large electricity price spikes. It can also create jobs, he adds, not decimate the workforce, as Republicans often claim.

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“We don’t have the situation like you have in the U.S., where you have this Koch brothers,” Untersteller said, referring to the billionaire heirs of Koch Industries.

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