Abstract
With the German Energy Efficiency Act, politicians are intervening directly in business activities by imposing energy-saving requirements. The act sets precise targets for future energy consumption in Germany as a whole and obliges companies above a certain energy consumption level to set up energy management systems or to draw up implementation plans for energy-saving measures identified as economically viable. Government bodies have an annual obligation to save energy; this is unnecessary, as the relevant signals for energy savings result from EU emissions trading. It is also dysfunctional, as it undermines entrepreneurial freedom of action and leads to a de facto planned climate economy.