“Germany falters on climate leadership” – vs. “Germany on track with climate accord”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel needs to put “her own house in order” on climate policy because the world needs her leadership on the issue since US President Donald Trump decided to take the United States out of the Paris Agreement on climate, the editorial board of USA Today writes in an opinion piece. “If the planet's future rests with the peer pressure system embraced in Paris, it's important that the Germans resolve their political fissures in a way that allows them to reclaim their position as climate change leaders”, the board writes. In a response, Germany’s Ambassador to the United States, Peter Wittig, argues that his country was taking on the responsibility, saying that most political forces agreed on a phase-out of coal power in the medium term. “For Germany’s manufacturers, the digital and the energy transformation are two sides of the same coin: Eventually, coal will go the way of the typewriter”, he writes.

Find the USA Today editorial here, and the response of Ambassador Wittig here.

See the CLEW article Germany’s energy use and emissions likely to rise yet again in 2017 and the CLEW dossier COP23 – All eyes on Germany for background.