Merkel “not so happy” about EU Commission’s climate target proposal

In an interview with public broadcaster ARD, German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticised the proposal for a more ambitious EU greenhouse gas reduction target for 2030 by Miguel Arias Cañete, commissioner for climate action and energy. “I am not so happy about the new proposals because many member states today do not comply with what they have already promised,” said Merkel. “We should first reach the goals we have already set. I don’t think that constantly setting new targets makes sense.” According to the chancellor, the accumulation of extreme weather events and several exceptionally hot summers in the past years “show that climate change is taking place not just somewhere in Africa, the Arctic or Antarctica, but also here with us.” Germany has succeeded in making renewables “the central factor of our power supply” and Merkel expects a faster adoption of e-mobility in the coming years. However, enacting a climate protection law in 2019 which specifies how Germany aims to reach 2030 climate goals in each sector “will be difficult enough”.

Watch the interview in German here.

Also read the CLEW dossier The energy transition and climate change.