Climate Chancellor or Coal Chancellor – Taking stock of Merkel’s climate policy 2005 - 2017

There is a large gap between the standards in climate protection that German Chancellor Angela Merkel proclaims on an international stage and the actual results of her policies at home, according to a Greenpeace Germany paper. The NGO charts Merkel’s political climate career from her time as environment minister in 1994 until her tenure as Chancellor from 2005 to 2017, and calls the period “12 lost years for climate protection”. Annual average greenhouse gas reductions were lower than under previous chancellors Helmut Kohl and Gerhard Schröder, and Merkel gave in to pressure from the coal lobby and car industry instead of phasing out coal-fired power generation and the combustion engine, Greenpeace says. Greenpeace held a protest demanding a German coal exit in front of the chancellery today.

Find the paper in German here.

For background, read the CLEW factsheet The story of "Climate Chancellor" Angela Merkel.