Gas supply | Uniper: Socialization instead of sell-off

Ahead of the annual general meeting of the nationalized energy company Uniper on Thursday, the civil society organizations Urgewald, Communia, and the umbrella organization of critical shareholders criticized the postponement of the company's climate policy goals and its planned reprivatization. In its 2024 annual report , Uniper announced that it would not achieve _carbon neutrality in direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions until 2040; the company originally aimed to be carbon neutral by 2035.

"Instead of allowing this fossil fuel-fueled course to continue, the federal government must finally assume responsibility," says Moritz Leiner, energy campaigner at Urgewald . He points to the climate protection mandate, which obligates state-owned companies to take measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "By 2035, Uniper must end its fossil gas business and put itself on a 1.5-degree-compatible path," demands Leiner. The umbrella organization of critical shareholders has submitted a corresponding countermotion to the annual general meeting.

Uniper is one of the largest gas traders and gas storage operators in Germany. The energy crisis triggered by the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine hit the company particularly hard. Germany provided billions in aid to rescue the company and became the majority owner with over 99 percent of the stake – Uniper was effectively nationalized.

The European Commission responded with a series of conditions. For example, the federal government must reduce its stake to a maximum of 25 percent plus one share by the end of 2028. Uniper has been working on fulfilling another condition since the end of 2024 and is making repayments to the German government. In the first quarter of 2025 , a further €2.6 billion was paid to the Federal Republic . The company is thus advancing the conditions for the federal government's exit.

In September, the German Federal Ministry of Finance, which manages the shares, declared that Uniper would return to private hands primarily through share sales on the capital market. Reports of a one-off sale to the Canadian asset manager Brookfield followed at the beginning of the year. Allegedly interested parties for the company's shares include the state-controlled Taqa Group from the United Arab Emirates and Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský , who owns, among other things, the East German lignite company Leag and a 20 percent stake in Thyssenkrupp's steel business.

Justus Henze, a spokesperson at Communia, described the reprivatization as "negligent," as systemically important infrastructure is falling into the hands of "irresponsible investors." "We call on the federal government to halt all privatization plans, enter into negotiations with the EU on alternatives, and support Uniper in decarbonizing the publicly owned company," said Henze. Instead of reprivatization, Communia calls for the socialization of the corporation: The company would then not only be formally state-owned, but would also be democratically controlled and managed – thus advancing the energy transition in the interests of the common good.

The EU's requirements pose "a challenge, but not an insurmountable hurdle," for Uniper's transformation into a public utility, according to a concept paper published on Tuesday . Communia sees two options: First, Article 15 of the Basic Law could be used for socialization; the "Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co." initiative also cites this article in its demand for the socialization of large housing corporations. Second, the federal government could sell the shares to be sold to public-sector partners instead of to profit-oriented investors. Possible options include holdings of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) unions and associations of energy cooperatives or municipal utilities.

Communia still has some time to make its demands for socialization heard: The premature end of the "traffic light" coalition has disrupted the timeline for reprivatization. And the future finance minister is likely to set other priorities in his first weeks in office.