The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety has opened the Competence Center for Climate Protection in Energy-Intensive Industries (KEI) in Lausitz. It is starting up with six employees, with 20 jobs planned for the medium term. The think tank aims to advise energy-intensive industries on decarbonization issues and act as a point of contact for the concrete implementation of projects to reduce and avoid process-related emissions. The KEI is part of the measures by which the Federal Government intends to achieve Germany’s greenhouse gas neutrality by 2050. The Center is also intended to oversee the “ Decarbonization in Industry ” funding program of the Federal Ministry for the Environment. The program has a budget of one billion euros and is scheduled to start in 2020.

According to Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze at the opening ceremony, the KEI’s general objective is to help industry hold its own against the competition in the growing market for climate-neutral goods while further reducing its climate-damaging emissions.