SPD climate and energy politician Miersch says 2019 will be year of key challenges

Energy and climate policy must be key policy areas for Germany’s government in 2019 in order to significantly reduce carbon emissions and make a substantial contribution to limiting climate change, Social Democratic (SPD) energy and climate politician Matthias Miersch writes in a guest article for the Tagesspiegel. “We have to put energy and climate policy centre stage,” Miersch says. Additional auctions for renewable energy installations, a compromise on Germany’s coal exit and a Climate Protection Law are some of the tasks that must be solved in the coming year, he says. And he says his party should work towards abolishing the current cap on the volume of supported solar power and debate how a CO2 pricing scheme could be used to reform the system of taxes and levies in a climate-friendly way.

Read the article in the Tagesspiegel in German here.

See the CLEW articles German parties fiercely debate IPCC’s 1.5° report in parliament, as well as the CLEW factsheets Germany’s Climate Action Plan 2050 and From ideas to laws – how Energiewende policy is shaped for background.