25 years after Germany’s first Climate Action Report, environmentalists say little has been achieved

A quarter century after Germany published its first Climate Action Report in 1993, environmental groups give the country bad marks on its efforts to follow through on the promises made in the seminal document, news agency dpa reports in an article carried by Heise Online. Christoph Bals of the NGO Germanwatch says too little progress has been made in reducing emissions in different sectors. “This is most obvious in the transport sector, an industry that still seems to be regarded as sacrosanct,” Bals says. The environmental activist says politicians are reluctant to initiate structural changes as long as influential companies block policies that curtail their business practices, but adds that the Paris Agreement gives reason for hope that these would now be addressed on a large scale. Transport emissions in Germany have not fallen at all compared to 1990 levels, although then environment minister Klaus Töpfer specifically pointed out the challenges posed by growing traffic volumes in the country’s first Climate Action Report, calling for “decisive measures.” The document also said that total emissions would have to fall by 25 to 30 percent by 2005, but this target was only achieved in 2017, the article says.

Find the article in German here.

Find a CLEW article on the latest report here.