Sustainability Requires Economic Strength

For the BDI, the economy, the environment, and social responsibility are inextricably linked. Sustainable growth creates opportunities for investment in new technologies and enables companies to scale up climate-friendly solutions. For this reason, economic conditions should be viewed more clearly as a prerequisite for sustainable development and embedded in the DNS.

A circular economy increases resilience

The transition to a circular economy is far more than just an environmental initiative. Circular economy combines resource efficiency with industrial value creation and increases the resilience of supply chains. This is particularly important in the light of a rising demand driven by the energy transition, electromobility, digitalization, and infrastructure expansion. The National Circular Economy Strategy is thus a key component of future economic policy; also because it implements the European Commission’s circular economy directive and creates incentives for more efficient resource use. At the same time, a more circular economic model opens up new growth opportunities and supports the reduction of so-called Scope 3 emissions along value chains.

Future-Technologies for Mobility

BDI supports the vision of climate-neutral, efficient, and affordable mobility. The DNS addresses key issues such as rail infrastructure, local public transit, electric mobility, and charging infrastructure. However, in our view, concrete measures to accelerate the transition to low-carbon and carbon-neutral fuels are lacking.\nWe advocate for a technology-neutral approach. This includes advanced biofuels, hydrogen, and hydrogen-based fuels. Action is particularly needed in freight transport. The development of public charging infrastructure and hydrogen refueling stations is crucial for the transition to new propulsion systems in heavy-duty commercial vehicles. The BDI also sees a need to temporarily include blue hydrogen alongside green hydrogen as the hydrogen economy ramps up. When using carbon capture and storage, greater consideration should be given to the opportunities it presents for climate protection and industrial transformation.

Risk Assessment Instead of Blanket Bans

A pollution-free environment is an important goal. From BDI’s perspective, the key to achieving this lies in the safe use of chemicals. Hazardous substances cannot be completely avoided. What matters is whether their production and use pose risks to people and the environment.
That is why we advocate for the proven principle of risk assessment. We view proposals for blanket bans on substances without prior risk assessment with skepticism. Many sustainable products and industrial processes rely on specific chemical properties. The European REACH regulation already provides effective tools for the safe handling of chemicals. The German Sustainability Strategy should take these fundamentals into account and consistently combine sustainability with industrial innovation.