Associations call for tougher climate measures following ‘inadequate’ govt plans

A broad alliance of more than 40 civil society associations and organisations has called on the German government to step-up climate measures as the country is projected to miss its future greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. The Council of Experts on Climate Change yesterday (22 August) said the government’s Climate Action Programme 2023 – which was set to establish measures to ensure climate targets are met – is insufficient to meet 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. “Is this inadequate climate programme seriously supposed to be the [chancellor Olaf] Scholz government's answer to [deadly floods] and future climate catastrophes?” criticised Stefanie Langkamp, head of policy at Climate-Alliance Germany, one of the 42 associations. She said the programme was another breach of the Climate Action Law, which requires Germany to reduce emissions by 65 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.

In their joint statement, the associations – which included NGOs Friends of the Earth Germany and NABU, as well as think tank E3G – called for the government to immediately implement measures such as introducing a speed limit on motorways and rural roads, slashing climate-damaging subsidies, and massively expanding public transport. “Transport minister Volker Wissing of the FDP has so far been a complete failure for climate protection,” Langkamp said. According to the expert council report, the transport and building sectors are mainly to blame for the projected insufficient emission reductions. The joint appeal also calls for Germany to bring the coal phase-out forward to 2030, increase the speed of energy efficiency building renovations, and introduce the ‘climate bonus’ to return CO2 price revenues to citizens.

Germany will miss its climate targets for 2030 and 2045 without additional measures despite considerable progress being made, according to the emissions projections report 2023 by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA).