“Horror News”
Environmentalists appalled by committee result
03/29/2023, 02:48 am
Greenpeace speaks of a “gutting” of the climate protection law, the German environmental aid of a “catastrophe”: While the federal government declares the compromise package of the coalition committee as a big hit, environmentalists govern with devastating criticism.
Environmentalists have sharply criticized the results of the multi-day coalition committee. In particular, the planned softening of the Federal Climate Protection Act is a disaster, according to the German Environmental Aid (DUH). “This anti-climate protection coalition is seriously laying hands on the Federal Climate Protection Act. In doing so, it is sinning against all future generations,” explained DUH Federal Managing Director Jürgen Resch.
“In the transport sector, the horror news can hardly be counted, including a whopping 144 accelerated motorway construction projects and the planned de facto equal treatment of combustion engine cars with electric vehicles,” said Resch. He called on the members of the Bundestag to “roundly reject the planned deterioration of the already unambitious law from the Merkel era”.
Greenpeace criticized similar points: “By giving up the obligation to implement each individual sector goal, Chancellor Scholz (…) is acknowledging that his party’s greatest climate policy success, the Climate Protection Act, will be gutted,” explained Martin Kaiser, Executive Vice President of Greenpeace Germany. “With Transport Minister Wissing, this relieves the bottom of the league when it comes to climate protection. If 144 additional climate-damaging motorway projects are to be paved through the country at an accelerated rate, the climate will continue to be hit by the wall.” The “traffic light marathon” did “far too little” to climate protection, even throwing it back “at important points”.
FDP praises market-based climate protection
After almost 30 hours of marathon deliberations, the traffic light parties had agreed on a common course in climate and infrastructure policy. The resolutions provide for faster planning processes for major infrastructure projects, including 144 highway projects, as well as for rail, power grids and renewable energy. In addition, the Climate Protection Act is to be changed in key points. The strict annual sector targets for greenhouse gas emissions, for example for transport or the building sector, are to be relaxed. In the future, it should be possible to compensate for missed targets in one sector in another.
The climate protection law will be transferred from the “planned economy to the market economy”, FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr defended the plans. “Instead of unrealistic annual targets, the goal of climate neutrality in 2045 will count consistently in the future.” In addition, the coalition has committed to openness to technology, according to Dürr. “We have created the right conditions for a market ramp-up for e-fuels and ensured that there will be no blanket ban on gas heating.”
Economics Veronika Grimm considers the reform of the climate protection law to be “a good thing” in terms of temporal and intersectoral flexibility – as long as the emission reduction targets are met, she told the “Rheinische Post”. “In the building sector, it has apparently also been possible to clear up the negative aspects. All of this should not lead to the mood turning against climate protection,” says Grimm.