The Financial Times is reporting some interesting remarks from Gunnar Groebler, the CEO of the German steelmaker, Salzgitter.
The Financial Times is reporting some interesting remarks from Gunnar Groebler, the CEO of the German steelmaker, Salzgitter.
There’s nothing new about senior executives in energy-intensive German companies warning that high energy costs might lead to them to relocate operations abroad, but it’s somewhat more unusual to one read of them suggesting that the relocations might reach such a scale that there could be serious negative repercussions for the country’s broader industrial sector.
The FT:
The chief executive of steelmaker Salzgitter has warned that Germany’s big energy users must commit to the country as a base to stave off the creeping deindustrialisation of Europe’s largest economy.
Gunnar Groebler, who joined Germany’s second-largest steelmaker two years ago, told the Financial Times that if manufacturers of materials needed by industry, such as steel or chemicals, were to leave the region due to high energy costs “you run the risk of losing the whole value chain” of production.
His comments come as 32 per cent of surveyed industrial companies in August told the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) that they favoured investment abroad over domestic expansion — double the 16 per cent identified in the previous year’s survey — amid concern over a future without cheap Russian gas.
That survey is just the latest reminder of how destructive Angela Merkel’s “energy turnaround” (Energiewende) — ditching nuclear energy, ploughing billions into renewables, and relying on “cheap” Russian gas — has proved.
Groebler appears to be suggesting that if enough of these energy-intensive companies scale down their domestic operations, the German businesses they supply (or are supplied by) might follow suit. If that were to occur, it’s not hard to see how Germany’s position as Europe’s manufacturing powerhouse could be severely harmed.
It’s often claimed that the economy’s “green transition” will be an abundant source of new jobs. Green jobs are certainly being created, but I wonder if there will be enough of them to compensate for the job losses caused by decarbonization.
Consider me skeptical.