Press

Joint energy and climate action policy in the EU could save European countries EUR 248 billion between 2024 and 2050, with Germany alone saving EUR 66 billion. This is according to a study conducted by the ifo Institute in Munich on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Munich and Upper Bavaria to calculate the cost of making Europe climate neutral by 2050. “Having every country in Europe pursue energy climate action policy alone leads to huge additional costs. Joint climate action is always better than national climate action,” says Mathias Mier, ifo researcher and author of the study.

The business climate in Germany’s chemical industry improved in April. The index rose to -6.0 points, up from -10.1 points* in March. Companies assessed their current business situation at -16.0 points, which is slightly better than in March (-18 points*). Business expectations have brightened considerably – the indicator rose to +4.6 points in April, up from -1.9 points* in March. “The chemical industry is somewhat more confident about the coming months,” says industry expert Anna Wolf from the ifo Institute.

The educational opportunities of children and young people in Germany differ significantly between the federal states, finds a new ifo study. An unfavorable family background has the least negative impact on children in Berlin and Brandenburg. Here, it is about half as likely (Berlin: 53.8 percent; Brandenburg: 52.8 percent) that a child from a disadvantaged background will attend a university-track high school – or Gymnasium – as a child from a comfortable background. Nationwide, the figure is 44.6 percent. At the lower end are Saxony with 40.1 percent and Bavaria with 38.1 percent. A rate of 100 percent would imply equal opportunities. “When it comes to children’s educational opportunities in Germany, the decisive factors are their parents’ education and income. But just how decisive varies from state to state,” says Ludger Wößmann, Director of the ifo Center for the Economics of Education.