German Politicians Support Tesla's Initiative to Change Approval Procedures for Climate Protection Projects

Photo: @tobilindh/Twitter

Tesla is pushing for the fastest approval for its factory in Germany, offering advice on expediting approval processes for businesses that are focused on fighting climate change and issued a statement to the Supreme Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg. Now a number of German politicians and personalities are expressing support for Tesla's call, indicating that it is time to change the approval procedures.

Tesla went to the local court with a statement, which was published on April 8. The company indicated that, 16 months after filing the application with the relevant authorities, they still had not received a timeline for final approval. The problem lies in the fact that, in the current procedures and laws, all projects, regardless of what interests they pursue, are treated equally. That is, irrespective of whether the production is aimed at improving the environmental situation or, on the contrary, worsening it, projects will go through the same approval process. This approval process is unfair and incorrect.

This provoked a reaction and now the Federation of German Industry has also called for an expedited approval process. “Complex and lengthy procedures with numerous complaints and long battles between experts have already become the rule for managed projects,” criticized BDI Deputy Managing Director Holger Lösch. "This seriously hinders investment activity in this country and scares away investors." “The problems of German environmental law are unique compared to European countries, although all EU member states have the same guidelines,” he continued.

Although the federal government's SME Commissioner, Thomas Bareiß, believes that more has been done for Tesla than for any other project, this does not change the fact that the country needs changes that will bring great benefits in the long term. Bareiß also acknowledged that, especially in the case of medium-sized companies, “approval processes are increasingly becoming a barrier to investment." He says the approval timeline was doubled in the last ten years.

Federal Economics Minister Peter Altmaier also sees the need to speed up the approval process, commenting on Tesla's criticism. Much has been achieved in the last months and years of the grand coalition, Altmaier said, "but not enough." He said that there is certainly still a lot of room for improvement.

“We all wanted Tesla to invest in Brandenburg,” Altmeier said. "Wherever problems arise, wherever they become obvious, I am, of course, ready to seek solutions together with Brandenburg, together with Tesla."

Oliver Krischer, the vice president of the parliamentary group of Greens, also agreed with Tesla and said that there are too many bureaucratic obstacles and too slow decision-making processes in climate protection projects.

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