The newly founded Climate Union wants to convince the CDU and CSU that climate policy does not mean economic destruction. She wants to support the Union in the ecological transformation. Perhaps also to offer an alternative to supporters of the Greens?
ntv.de: Ms. Winter, what exactly are the demands of the Climate Union?
Wiebke Winter: We have two core demands. We want global warming to be limited to 1.5 degrees and for us to become climate-neutral in Germany in the next ten to twenty years, i.e. by 2040 at the latest. We want to bring these two demands into the party program of the CDU, the CSU and also gladly in the government program.
Under the leadership of the CDU, the government has already passed a climate protection law that has made national climate protection targets binding. The building renovation and the commuter allowance were also enforced with the help of the CDU. Where exactly does the Union have to catch up in terms of climate protection?
Wiebke Winter is one of the seven founding members of the Climate Union. The 25-year-old is the youngest member of the CDU federal executive board and wants to be elected to the Bundestag for the Union in the constituency of Bremen II / Bremerhaven in autumn. Winter has been state chairwoman of the Junge Union Bremen since 2019 and is writing her doctoral thesis on artificial intelligence and big data.
Wiebke Winter: We have to be even more ambitious when it comes to climate protection. Because it makes a big difference whether we are 1.5 degrees or 2 degrees global warming. The current plan of the Union and the entire government of the Union and the SPD is that we will only become climate neutral in 2050. This means that the 1.5 degree target cannot be met, at least in the opinion of the science I know.
Felix Rodenjohann: Everything is about speed. It’s no longer about what we do, it’s just about by when. Speed in climate protection was not exactly the top priority in the grand coalition. So we don’t want to invent something new, we want to help the CDU adapt to current developments.
How did the Climate Union come about?
Felix Rodenjohann: We have four board members and three founding members. They all represent a completely different professional background. But what they all have in common is that they have recognized that conservative thinking and action and business-oriented politics are not in conflict with climate protection – on the contrary: the ecological transformation is the largest investment program or economic stimulus program since reunification, probably since the Second World War.
There are different opinions within the CDU as to what climate policy should look like. Armin Laschet, for example, has a progressive stance on climate policy, but in the election campaign for the CDU chairmanship he made it clear that the German economy could be ruined by excessive climate protection measures. Where does the Climate Union fit into this debate within the Union?
Wiebke Winter: We wouldn’t see that as a contradiction. We agree with what Armin Laschet says: that we need climate prosperity and that we have to take an economic and industrial policy approach. Without business and industry, we cannot make climate policy. We need both in order to remain able to act. Our aim is to overcome these opposites between these two camps. One side emphasizes: We want to slow down climate change. The other side says: Climate protection is important, but above all we have to think about the economy. These camps are not that far apart.
In your statutes you write that you want to “network members of the CDU who are realistic about the climate”. But the CDU also has quite conservative members who vehemently take action against climate protection. Would you try to unite this split?
Wiebke Winter: First of all, I believe that all members of the CDU and CSU are fundamentally responsible for the fact that we have to stop climate change. The federal government has already decided that we will become climate-neutral, that is not something we in the CDU or CSU are still arguing about. It’s all about how fast we do it. We want to inform and show that this is possible by 2040 at the latest.
Felix Rodenjohann: Nobody blocks climate protection because they want to block climate protection. If climate protection has been blocked in the past, it is based on the assumption that climate protection harms the old economy in some way.
In your preamble you write that there are only a few years left to reach the climate targets. The CDU has been a ruling party for the past 15 years – climate policy was sometimes difficult to implement within your party. How do you intend to convince the CDU that climate policy should be implemented quickly after all?
Felix Rodenjohann is also one of the founding members of the association. The 34-year-old heads a group of companies that will make a complete decarbonization of cities, regions and companies possible by 2030. He has been a member of the Junge Union since school, but left the CDU two years ago. With the establishment of the Climate Union, Rodenjohann returns to the Christian Democrats.
Felix Rodenjohann: We want to communicate a clear stance on business and a clear stance on what is possible. Operationally, there are pragmatic things such as training programs and creating future jobs. Another big topic is to enable the administration to initiate climate-friendly processes.
How does the Climate Union differ from the Greens?
Wiebke Winter: We may share the goal of climate neutrality with the Greens, but we are pursuing a completely different path than they are. We want to take a business and industry-based path to climate neutrality. We want to show that we can secure jobs with precisely this topic. This is what defines the Union: promoting medium-sized businesses, promoting the economy, promoting industry and creating a path that unites both – ecology and economy. That is our goal, that is the original Union handwriting.
Should the Climate Union win voters for the CDU?
Wiebke Winter: We are convinced that our positions are correct and sensible. But of course it would be a nice effect if we could reach people to whom climate change is important and who therefore sympathize with the Greens, but who otherwise might have a more bourgeois profile or share the values of the CDU and CSU.
Does it make a big difference to the Climate Union whether Laschet or Söder becomes a candidate for Chancellor?
Felix Rodenjohann: No, because both can only win if they make this topic their top priority. 92 percent of Europeans see climate change as a major threat. Almost the same number would like their government to make greater efforts to expand renewable energies and accelerate change. That said, it’s not a question of people. It is not a question of parties. It’s just a question of design.
Clara Suchy spoke to Wiebke Winter and Felix Rodenjohann
.