Curriculum Vitae
Josef Göppel
Josef Göppel was born on 16 August 1950 on a small farm in the Franconian village of Rauenzell near Ansbach. He grew up with a strong attachment to the land and became a forester. He worked as a forestry engineer for 28 years – mostly outdoors. Göppel is married and has four daughters.
In 1972, he became involved in the local politics of his home region. After eight years in the Bavarian State Parliament, he was elected directly to the German Bundestag in 2002. All his political activities focus on living and working in harmony with nature.
Göppel has been the head of the CSU’s environmental working group since 1991, and has played a significant role in shaping the party’s environmental platform. Within the party, he has a reputation as a sometimes difficult and persistent unconventional thinker. The media regard him as the green conscience of his party.
As a forestry engineer, in 1986 he founded the Land Care Association of Middle Franconia. His aim was to overcome the bitter divisions that existed at that time between environmentalists and farmers. The initiative became a success, and today there are 155 Land Care Associations in 14 German Länder, with equal representation of farmers, conservationists and local politicians. Göppel has been head of the German Association for Landcare since 1993. The network Landcare Europe was founded at EU level in 2016.
In the mid-90s he joined the International Eco-Social Forum and worked on the Global Marshall Plan Initiative.
In 2005 he founded the Renewable Energies Network in the Middle Franconia region together with business representatives, craftspeople and scientists. In 2014 this led to the creation of the Franconia Regional Electricity cooperative, which aims to sell electricity directly to those in the immediate vicinity of the production sites.
He stood firmly by Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2015, when her generous policy of receiving Syrian refugees came under harsh criticism from the CDU and CSU.
A key cross-party initiative in the German Bundestag can be traced back to Göppel: members of government and opposition parties joined forces in the Future Forum on the Environment, where they made the case for more sustainable environmental policies.
In the Bundestag elections, Göppel’s personal votes have far surpassed the second votes for his party every time; in 2013, the figures stood at 53.3 percent to 47.6 percent.
An outsider’s view proves revealing – the following text appeared in the local press after an appearance at the Nürnberger Presseclub:
"Göppel is a true conservative. He wants nothing more than to preserve creation. The CSU Member of the Bundestag approaches politics through the lenses of his Christian faith and his long experience working with nature. He has been known to get on the wrong side of people, whether it be his fellow party members or supporters of conventional growth policies. He was the only member of the CSU to vote against generating electricity from nuclear power in Germany long before the start of the energy transition."
Political Career
•1972-2004 Herrieden town council
•1974-1994 Middle Franconia District Council
•since 1991 Chairman of the CSU environmental working group
•1986 founded the first Land Care Association
•1994-2002 Bavarian State Parliament
•since 1996 Ansbach county council
•since 2002 German Bundestag
Sustainable Production of renewable resources
Presentation by Josef Göppel at the European conference
"Fuelling the Future" on March 2007 in Nuremberg
Biomass can contribute a lot more to Europe's energy supply than it does today. The technically useable potential is 10% of the primary energy consumption in Germany. This is twice as much compared to todays share of 5,3%. The German Association for Landcare (DVL) supports a sustainable development of renewable energies.
It gets more and more important to consider Ecological boundaries, the further the biomass usage gets to its maximum potential. The cultivation of energy corps has to be balanced with the production of energy, food and the protection of nature. Extensive monoculture, increased use of pesticides, genetic engineering and clearing of natural woodlands endanger the peoples support for renewable energies.
For heating, electricity and transport - biomass can be used in a whole variety of ways. It should be applied only where it produces the highest energy output. Political incentives have to lead that way.
Electricity generation from biomass has been pushed forward successfully by the German Renewable-Energy-Law. After a heated initial phase, subsidy adjustments, as for example a landscape factor, are necessary.
The compulsory addition of biofuels to fuels in Europe has to consider regional small and medium sized businesses in the supply lines. In the heading sector, the use of renewable energies has to be improved. Only 6.2% of the heating supply comes from renewable sources. However the energetic yield is at its maximum when biofuels can be directly converted into heat.
Energy crops bring added values to rural areas. Their cultivation must not fall behind today's production standards for food.