Negotiations on the home stretch: Greens praise “new dynamism” in climate protection

Negotiations on the home stretch
Greens praise “new dynamics” in climate protection

The future traffic light government must deliver on climate protection, the Greens have made this a condition for their participation. Obviously, one can live well with what has now been agreed with the SPD and FDP. Will the coalition agreement be presented on Wednesday?

The Greens are satisfied with the agreements made by the future traffic light coalition on climate policy. The coalition agreement with the SPD and FDP should make it clear that climate protection as a cross-cutting issue will run through all areas – from traffic to industry, construction and housing to agriculture, the party said. After years of standstill, a “new dynamic” is being set in motion to bring Germany onto the 1.5-degree path. “That was essential for the Greens.” What is meant is the goal anchored in the Paris Climate Agreement of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial times.

The coalition negotiations meanwhile turn into the home straight. The Bundestag MPs The SPD MPs Kevin Kühnert and Stefan Gelbhaar from the Greens said at an association meeting on Tuesday that the contract could “probably be presented tomorrow”, that is, on Wednesday. According to the green negotiating groups, the massive expansion of renewable energies from wind and sun is to be specified in this, in order to achieve a faster phase-out of coal – de facto for the year 2030. So far, it was planned to end the climate-damaging coal-fired power generation in Germany by 2038 at the latest. Billions in aid were decided upon for structural change in the coal regions.

Wind power expansion far below the specifications

With the expansion of renewable energies, their share of electricity consumption should climb to 80 percent in 2030, according to the green negotiating circles. This should succeed with faster planning and approval procedures and a solar obligation. Two percent of the land area is to be available for the expansion of wind energy on land, the capacities for offshore wind energy are to be increased to at least 30 gigawatts by 2030. In 2030, 50 percent of the heat is to be generated in a climate-neutral manner. So far, the goal of politics has been to increase the share of green electricity in electricity consumption to 65 percent by 2030.

Last year, according to industry information, renewable energies had a share of around 45 percent. In terms of capacities for offshore wind energy, an output of 20 gigawatts has so far been planned by 2030 – the new goal of the traffic light would therefore be a significant increase.

So far, there have been many obstacles to expanding wind power. This includes too little space, long planning processes, many lawsuits and conflicts with species and nature conservation. The goal of two percent of the country’s area has not yet been achieved by a long way. As emerged from a report submitted in October by a federal-state cooperation committee, as of December 31, 2020, a legally valid area for onshore wind energy of 0.70 to 0.85 percent was available nationwide. According to some country reports, planning processes currently take at least five, but sometimes even twelve years.

Burner-out at the beginning of the next decade

In addition, according to information from green negotiating circles, a future traffic light government wants to bring at least 15 million fully electric cars onto German roads by 2030. In around ten years there should be no more approvals for fossil combustion engines in Germany. The corresponding passage literally says: “According to the proposals of the European Commission, only CO2-neutral vehicles will be permitted in the transport sector in Europe in 2035 – this will have an effect correspondingly earlier in Germany.”

So far, there are no political targets for the number of e-cars on German roads. The Federal Environment Agency considers a stock of around 16 million electric vehicles to be necessary by 2030 in order to achieve the climate protection target in the Climate Protection Act, as stated in a recently presented concept. This provides numerous suggestions so that climate goals can be achieved in transport.

“When it comes to climate protection, traffic is heading in the wrong direction,” said the President of the Federal Environment Agency, Dirk Messner. “Without massive efforts there, too, there will be nothing overall with climate protection.” Transport is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in Germany – and the transport sector is the only area that has not reduced its greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990.

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