“Left Party in Brandenburg gives up ambitious climate goals”

The Left Party in the state of Brandenburg has joined its government coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), in abandoning the ambitious climate targets which they had agreed on in 2014, dealing a new blow to Germany’s climate policy, report Markus Balser and Jens Schneider in Süddeutsche Zeitung. It would have been impossible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 72 percent by 2030, the Left Party wrote in an internal note, seen by Süddeutsche. “Those are the numbers. We can’t escape this fact,” state parliamentary group head Ralf Christoffers told Süddeutsche. The Left Party had initially contradicted comments made by economy minister Albrecht Gerber (SPD) that the state would reduce its 2030 climate protection targets.

Read the article in German here.

For background, read the CLEW dossier The energy transition and climate change.