PRESS RELEASE Speeding up planning and permitting processes would be a cost-free investment package

In a joint letter to the parliamentary group leaders of the SPD, FDP, Alliance ’90/The Greens, and CDU/CSU, the Federation of German Industries (BDI) and IG Metall called for accelerating planning and approval procedures to trigger the wave of investment needed for the transformation. “The climate-neutral transformation must pick up much more speed,” write Jörg Hofmann, First Chairman of IG Metall, and Prof. Dr. Siegfried Russwurm, President of the BDI.

Within a few years, more than 20,000 additional permits will need to be granted for the retrofitting of industrial facilities and infrastructure within companies. Added to this is the need to drastically accelerate the expansion of renewable energy and the gas and electricity grids.

“This cannot be achieved with today’s planning and permitting processes. To modernize Germany, accelerating and digitizing these processes is more urgent than ever. “I welcome the fact that Chancellor Scholz addressed this issue during today’s general debate in the Bundestag and proposed a new ‘Germany Pace.’ But now we need to see concrete action,” said Wolfgang Lemb, Executive Board Member, at a symposium organized by the Network for the Future of Industry on Wednesday in Berlin.

“Speeding up planning and approval procedures can significantly reduce the burden on the government and the economy and would act like a free investment package,” emphasized BDI Chief Executive Tanja Gönner at the event.

The event hosted by the Network for the Future of Industry can be watched live via the website www.buendnis-zukunft-der-industrie.de until 4:00 p.m. and will also be available for viewing there afterward.