NGOs’ "Climate Election Check" sees need to improve party manifestos

All parties except the far-right populist AfD have put a focus on climate action in their manifestos for the upcoming national election, but there is a lack of proposals on how to implement it, said NGO umbrella organisation Climate-Alliance Germany, the group GermanZero and the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) at the presentation of their “Climate Election Check” website. “The next federal government must set the course for a climate neutral and socially just future,” said Christiane Averbeck, managing director of Climate-Alliance. She welcomed that all parties have affirmed they want to advance on climate policy in their election manifestos, but said there is “a considerable need to improve” when it comes to presenting ideas for climate action implementation. The climate election check compares proposals on energy and climate topics from the manifestos of the conservatives (CDU/CSU), the Social Democrats (SPD), the Green Party, the Free Democrats (FDP) and the Left Party. The NGOs said the website tool is meant to help voters make an informed choice on climate issues at the election on 26 September.

Climate and energy are two of the key issues that dominate Germany's 2021 general election. The Climate Election Check is similar to a tried and tested tool by the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) – the Wahl-O-Mat – which lets voters compare parties on a fuller spectrum of issues. Clean Energy Wire provides a compact overview in English of major parties' plans to make the country comply with international climate targets and improve the emissions balance across all sectors of the economy. You can download a pdf version of the comparison table here.