Remarks on the reporting

Latest Update: February 2024

The “Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative – EITI” is a global standard the aim of which is to achieve more financial transparency and accountability in the recording and disclosure of revenue generated by the extractive industry. Through the implementation of the voluntary initiative of the EITI standard, more than 50 countries around the world are meanwhile contributing to the fight against corruption and mismanagement, and to the promotion of good governance in this important economic sector.

Implementation and reporting topics

In order to implement the EITI standard in Germany (D-EITI), a Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) consisting of representatives from the government, companies and civil society was established at the beginning of 2015. The MSG is responsible for implementing the initiative and preparing the EITI reports, which are published regularly in accordance with the EITI standard. Since 2023 information and data have been published online1 during the course of the year, but no later than the end of the respective reporting year.
The aim of D-EITI reporting is to give the public the opportunity to obtain comprehensive information about the extractive industry in Germany. In addition to the disclosure of payments made by the extractive industry to government agencies and comprehensive information on government revenues from the oil, gas, lignite, potash and rock salt as well as the non-metallic minerals sectors, the report also includes comprehensive information on the framework conditions for the German extractive sector. In addition, the report provides an overview of topics that the D-EITI MSG believes are relevant to the extractive sector, such as Dealing with interventions in nature and landscape or the Impact of the energy transition and structural change on the extraction of raw materials in Germany. The disclosures go beyond the requirements of the EITI Standard (2019). In view of the geopolitical situation and the economic challenges, the MSG had prepared a chapter on the Contribution of the extraction of domestic natural resources to security of supply and Germany’s role in the international natural resources market for the 5th D-EITI report. This chapter was updated and expanded for the latest report.

Summary

In its 6th D-EITI report (reporting year: 2021), the D-EITI Multi-Stakeholder Group would like to focus on the following information on the extractive sector and its operating conditions:
General corporate taxes, including corporation tax, income tax plus solidarity surcharge and trade tax, are the most important revenues received by government agencies from the extractive industry. In addition, mine site and extraction royalties have to be paid by the extractive companies. Together, these revenues from the extractive industry amounted to approximately €487m in 2021. This represents 0.03% of total Federal Government revenue. Compared to the previous year, revenue increased by around 35% (from €368m).
The disclosure of payment flows from the extractive industry has revealed the following: The payments made in 2021 by the companies participating in the D-EITI process to government agencies for corporate income tax, trade tax, mine site and extraction royalties as well as lease payments and payments for infrastructure improvements totalled €215,767,387.48. Compared to the previous year, revenue increased by around 9.7% (from €196,636,734.13).
In 2021, 47 new mining licences were issued nationwide in the sectors covered by the D-EITI. According to the Federal Office of Statistics approx. 1,407 km², i.e. approx. 0.4% of the area of Germany were used as mining land (underground and open-cast mining, quarries) as of 31 December 2021 (last key date).
The report provides an overview of the contribution of the domestic natural resources sector across the relevant energy sources in Germany. In 2021, the natural resources covered by D-EITI had the following shares in primary energy consumption: approx. 32% for crude oil, 27% for natural gas and approx. 9.1% for lignite. This means that there was relatively little change compared to the previous year. Hard coal consumption was higher than in the previous year and accounted for around 8.9% of primary energy consumption.
Part of exports from Germany are accounted for by the domestic natural resources sector. In 2021 (2022), Germany exported goods worth a total of around €1.38 trillion (€1.58 trillion). Products of the extractive industries accounted for some €14.1 billion of this amount (previous year: €12.4 billion), equivalent 1.02% (2022: 0.78%) of total exports. At around €12.0 billion (2022: €9.9 billion), crude oil and natural gas accounted for the largest share of exports. However, this mainly involved re-exports of natural gas.
The report also provides an overview of the topics employment and social affairs. At the end of 2021 approx. 59,000 persons were employed in the extractive industry (same number than in 2022). This corresponds to around 0.17% of all employees in Germany who are subject to social insurance contributions. Compared to the 2016 reporting period (1st D-EITI report), the sector employed about 12,000 fewer workers in 2021 (in 2022 approx. 12,300), mainly due to the phasing out of hard coal mining by the end of 2018.
The chapter “Contribution of domestic natural resources extraction to security of supply and Germany’s role in the international natural resources market” was supplemented by the topic of security of supply with natural gas and temporary state intervention in the wake of the energy crisis in 2022.

Financial transparency pilot project

At the request of the International EITI Secretariat, the MSG has introduced a procedure for alternative quality assurance of payment flows in the area of financial transparency, in which the payments made by extractive companies to government agencies are disclosed. This procedure has been further developed in recent years. Since the 3rd report the reconciliation of payments made by the extractive companies participating in the D-EITI initiative with the receipts of government agencies (so-called payment reconciliation) has been replaced by a general risk-based assessment of the government processes. The pilot phase has now ended. The alternative procedure for quality assurance has been implemented in close cooperation with the International EITI Secretariat since the pilot phase.

Quality assurance of payment data

Payment collection, the quality assurance process and risk assessments have been carried out and supported by an Independent Administrator commissioned by the MSG, as provided for in the EITI standard. The reporting companies participated on a voluntary basis. The Independent Administrator has determined for the 6th report that the risk of irregular payment flows is low. Therefore, a plausibility check of the payment data is sufficient. This ensures the quality of the payment data sent to government agencies.
This 6th D-EITI report was developed by the German MSG in cooperation with the Independent Administrator, the auditing company Grant Thornton AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft of Düsseldorf. Chapter 10 contains the information for the 2021 reporting year. The remaining chapters contain additional data for 2022, if available.

All information and data listed in this report as well as further visualisations and downloadable data tables in open-data-format can also be found online on the D-EITI report portal www.rohstofftransparenz.de.

Information about the D-EITI process and the Multi-Stakeholder Group of the D-EITI can be found at www.d-eiti.de.

MSG objectives for D-EITI:

We, the Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG), commit to the principles set forth in the 2019 EITI Standard by setting ourselves the following objectives with respect to EITI implementation in Germany:

1. Producing timely reports that are understandable and accessible to the general public and based on a transparent, open and innovative EITI process in Germany; and

2. Processing contextual information concerning the German extractive sector, with a view to promoting a broad debate on resource policy that includes aspects of (economic, environmental, and social) sustainability; and

3. Achieving an understandable, commensurate and increasingly comprehensive reporting to the general public in compliance with the EITI Standard and in harmony with the EU Accounting and Transparency Directives. Besides, added value shall be generated; and

4. Contributing to the further development of the EITI Standard and its implementation and acceptance as a de-facto global standard, to support the global striving for transparency and accountability as well as the fight against corruption in the extractive sector; and

5. Sharing experiences from the multi-stakeholder process, in particular with respect to participatory democracy, citizen engagement and knowledge transfer, and also with regard to EITI implementation in a state with a federal structure; and

6. Substantially enhancing Germany’s credibility as regards its political and financial support for EITI; and

7. Ensuring the ongoing implementation of the D-EITI with the intended multi-stakeholder model while building capacity for broad-scale public debate.

Erläuterung zu den Berichtsinhalten

Seitenanfang

Help us to improve rohstofftransparenz.de! We are grateful for your feedback.

Share feedback

Follow Us

Search

Search

Glossar

In Federal States in which legislation does not include an excavation law and the State-level Nature Conservation Law does not apply to the extraction of non-energetic, ground-based natural resources in the context of dry excavations, this type of natural resource extraction falls within the scope of the relevant state building regulations.

Legal limitations also exist: State building regulations apply to the excavation of solid rock (limestone, basalt, etc.), for example, in quarries with an area of up to 10 hectares (ha) in which no blasting is carried out. In the event that this area is exceeded, or if water bodies are formed after completion of the extraction operations, the German Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchG) and/or Water Resources Act (WHG) are applicable.
In Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia, the above-ground excavation of non-energetic, ground-based natural resources in the context of dry excavations is determined at state level by the existing excavation laws (AbgrG). For the excavation of solid rock (limestone, basalt, etc.) in quarries where blasting does not occur, the AbgrG applies to sites with an area of up to 10 ha. In the event that this area is exceeded, or if water bodies are formed after completion of the extraction operations, the German Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchG) and/or Water Resources Act (WHG) are applicable. In the other Federal States, this type of natural resources extraction is regulated by the respective state building regulations or by the state-level nature conservation laws.

In general, the AbgrG applies to those raw materials the excavation of which is not directly subject to mining law or the mining authorities. These raw materials include (in particular) gravel, sand, clay, loam, limestone, dolomite and other rocks, bog mud and clays. However, the jurisdiction between AbgrG and mining law can vary from case to case in the case of certain raw materials, such as quartz gravels. The requested authority must always verify its own jurisdiction in each case. The AbgrG also encompasses surface area usage and the subsequent rehabilitation of the area.
The German Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchG) is the most important and practice-relevant law in the field of environmental law. It constitutes the basis for the approval of industrial and commercial installations. In the natural resources extraction industry, quarrying companies must have approval to extract stones and earth. Every quarrying area of 10 hectares or more must undergo a full approval procedure, including public participation and UVP (environmental impact assessment). A more simplified approval procedure is used for quarrying areas of less than 10 hectares.

The sphere of responsibility for the legal immission control approval procedure is fully specified in the Immission Control Acts of the Federal States. The Federal States are tasked with the administrative enforcement of the approval procedure. Each individual state’s Environment Ministry – the highest local immission protection authority – usually bears the responsibility for this procedure. Subordinate authorities include regional councils, district authorities and lower-level administrative authorities. Administrative jurisdiction generally lies with the lower-level administrative authorities.
The GDP measures the value of goods and services produced domestically (creation of value) within a given period (quarter, year). The Federal Office of Statistics calculates the GDP as follows: production value minus intermediate consumption = the gross value added; plus taxes on products and minus subsidies = GDP
The gross value added is calculated by deducting intermediate consumption from the production values, so it only includes the value added created during the production process. The gross value added is valued at manufacturing prices, i.e. without the taxes due (product taxes), but including the product subsidies received.

During the transition from gross value added (at manufacturing prices) to GDP, the net taxes (product taxes less product subsidies) are added globally to arrive at an assessment of the GDP at market prices’. Source: Destatis
The planning approval procedure under mining law is used for the approval procedure of a general operating plan for projects which require an environmental impact assessment (§§ 52(2a), in conjunction with 57 a of the BBergG).
There are different definitions and methodological approaches at the international as well as at the national level as to what subsidies are and how they are calculated. According to the definition of the German government’s subsidy report, this report considers federal subsidies for private companies and economic sectors (ie grants as cash payments and tax breaks as special tax exemptions) which are relevant to the budget. Subsidies at the federal level can be viewed via the subsidy reports of the federal states (see Appendix 5 of the German government subsidy report).
In compliance with § 68(1), Water Resources Act (WHG), the excavation of landowners’ natural resources such as gravel, sand, marl, clay, loam, peat and stone in wet extraction operations requires a planning approval procedure. The reason for this is that groundwater is exposed in wet extraction, resulting in above-ground water. The planning approval procedure is implemented by lower-level water authorities.

The procedural steps of the planning approval procedure are governed by the general provisions of §§ 72 to 78 of the Administrative Procedures Act (VerwVfG). Within the meaning of § 68(3), nos. 1 and 2 of the WHG, the plan may only be established or approved if an impairment of the common good is not to be expected and other requirements of the WHG as well as other public-law provisions are fulfilled.