Greens make stepped-up climate protection a prerequisite for joining coalition

The German Green Party has made a strengthened commitment to climate protection and energy transition a prerequisite for joining a future coalition after September’s parliamentary elections. “We are ready for talks with any party”, but there had to be a consensus that progress in reaching Germany’s climate protection targets and advancing energy transition is made a priority, the party’s co-leader, Katrin Göring-Eckardt, said at a press conference in Berlin. In their ’Ten-Point-Plan for Green Governance‘, the Greens identified their most important policy aspirations as “a binding offer for voters”. These include an end to renewables expansion limits; a national carbon floor price; the “immediate” shutting down of Germany’s 20 dirtiest coal-fired power plants; and “fostering the breakthrough of e-mobility” by “ending the era of combustion engines.” She said the Greens were determined to become Germany’s third party behind the conservative CDU-CSU union and the Social Democrats, as “the third place decides what direction the country will take in the next legislative period”. In the latest polls, the Greens rank fifth behind the FDP, which adheres to economic liberalism, and the Left Party. The Greens’ co-leader said the CDU-CSU and the Social Democrats “lack earnestness when it comes to climate protection”, which was why “it should be left to professionals like us”.

Find the Greens’ ten-point plan in German here.

For background, read the CLEW dossier Vote2017 - German elections and the Energiewende.