Olaf Scholz and his Economy Minister Robert Habeck, accompanied by a group of officials and businessmen, plan to sign an agreement to create hydrogen supply chains as part of Berlin’s efforts to speed up its transition to renewable energy. Upon his arrival in Montreal for the two-day visit, Scholz said Canada “has similar natural resources to Russia – but the difference is that it is a credible democracy.” Scholz said “new fields of cooperation” have opened up with Canada since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A priority project, he said, on which the two countries wanted to work closely together was the creation of a “hydrogen economy”. An agreement is expected to be signed between Montreal and Berlin on future cooperation in hydrogen production and transport. Scholz is also due to discuss the delivery of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Canada to Germany with his counterpart, Justin Trudeau. The visit comes amid heated debate in Germany fueled by growing concerns that Russia may completely cut off the country’s already severely reduced natural gas flows. The government is under pressure to extend the life of Germany’s three remaining nuclear plants, which are due to be decommissioned by the end of the year, as part of a phase-out strategy announced in 2011. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. In recent days there have even been calls for Russia to restore the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which was greenlit by the German government in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Soltz said over the weekend a decision on the nuclear plants would likely be made in the coming days. But Habeck, the leading Green, stressed that this would only help reduce natural gas consumption by around 2% and said “for the little it would get us, it’s the wrong decision”. The government has outright rejected the idea of reviving the dormant Nord Stream 2 project, repeatedly referring to the idea as “morally reprehensible”. But the fact that it has been reported at all shows the extent to which pressure is mounting on Scholz to develop workable strategies to deal with the unprecedented situation, which threatens to plunge the German economy into recession and leave millions of people facing rising energy bills and houses freeze. The deals struck with Canada will do little to help Germany in the near term, with this winter and next expected to be hit by energy shortages and record prices. The intelligence chief has warned of the dangers of unrest from a radicalized minority made up of far-right extremists and conspiracy theorists, who he said planned to exploit the situation. Leading economists have warned that rising energy bills on top of other increases in the cost of living will push more and more Germans into poverty and could spark social unrest. In this context, the government is keen to stress that once the infrastructure to support hydrogen and LNG is in place, Germany will be on a safer footing. The sight of Scholz and Habeck landing in Montreal with their delegation is seen as sending an important direct message to German voters that the government is taking action. In recent months it has often found itself both stunned into stagnation and the shock realization that Europe’s largest economy had become dangerously dependent on a single energy source in its pursuit of a green transition. Ahead of the visit, Habeck said Germany was “looking ahead to a very critical winter”. Habeck told German television that the rapid filling of the nation’s natural gas storage facilities – which are currently at just under 80% capacity – was encouraging, but warned that Russia could reduce the flow even further and therefore there was no room complacency. Currently, only about 20% of the natural gas levels due via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline reach Germany.
