Germany's climate package will be “major legislative task” – energy agency

The German government's newly agreed climate action package will be a "major legislative task", according to an analysis by the German Energy Agency (dena) and law firm BBH. The analysis assesses all 66 measures of the climate package, outlining which laws, ordinances and standards would need to be changed and concludes that in many cases, "the measures are associated with complex legislative procedures and will require extensive political coordination”. Central measures such as the introduction of CO2 pricing, the phase-out of coal-fired power generation and tax incentives for building modernisation are rated to be highly complex. Dena highlights that about a third of the 66 measures would have to go through the Bundesrat, Germany's council of federal states. The analysis shows that "the scope of the climate package is great - greater than the debate so far has appreciated”, dena Chief Executive Andreas Kuhlmann commented. He called for "concentration and willingness to negotiate at all levels" in order to master this legislative challenge.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's government coalition agreed on the climate action package on 20 September. Since then, the package's measures have been criticised as unambitious by industry associations, NGOs and experts. The Green Party has said it will try to amend the package through its influence in the Bundesrat, while environment minister Svenja Schulze has expressed openness to negotiating changes there.