Symposium: Energy transition, yes – but how?

The “public relations” working group of the Senior Expert Chemists has been discussing chemistry topics of great importance to society for some time. These include plastic waste, glyphosate, NO_x limits, electromobility and, indeed, the energy transition.

The symposium was organised by the GDCh together with DECHEMA and VCI and took place on 30 October 2019 from 13:00 to 17:30 in the fully occupied Max Buchner Hall of DECHEMA in Frankfurt. A » flyer provided information about the programme and background. The event was moderated by Klaus-Peter Jäckel, spokesperson of the Senior Expert Chemists’ Executive Board.

The aim of the symposium was to convey the need for the energy transition from ecological, technical, economic, political and industrial perspectives. The focus was to be on what is feasible in realistic terms and without an ideological viewpoint. To convey this aim, we invited four prominent speakers to address the following topics:

• Prof. Dr.-Ing. Manfred Fischedick, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy:
  Ecological and technical aspects of the energy transition – challenges but also opportunities
• Prof. Dr Ferdi Schüth, MPI Mühlheim-Ruhr
  Technical options for generating and storing sustainable renewable energy
• Prof. Dr Dr h.c. mult. Hans-Werner Sinn, President Emeritus of ifo, Munich
  Possibilities and limits of the German energy transition
• Dr. Jörg Unger, BASF SE:
  BASF’s carbon management programme

The event was reported on in Nachrichten aus der Chemie: Nachr. Chem. 2019, 67(12), 84.

Flyer "Energy Transition Symposium: Yes – but how?" available for download.