Merkel’s climate cabinet says will make key decisions in September

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s climate cabinet has announced it will make key decisions about climate action legislation and measures in September and adopt these by the end of 2019. During its second meeting today (29 May) in Berlin, the ministers with key responsibilities for climate issues debated additional climate action measures in those economic sectors which substantially contribute to Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions, such as energy, buildings and transport, according to a press release.  “As the next step, the climate cabinet will address the issue of CO₂ pricing in July on the basis of expert opinions currently being prepared.”

Germany is under pressure to meet its goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent by 2030, and Merkel’s government promised in its coalition agreement to introduce legislation by the end of 2019 to make sure the country reaches its climate targets. Merkel has set up the so-called climate cabinet, a group of ministers with key responsibilities for climate issues, which is to come up with climate action proposals and the necessary legislation by the end of the year. Germany's environment ministry wants to enshrine the country's climate targets in a new comprehensive Climate Action Law. A first draft was sent to the chancellery for early coordination in February 2019, and was met with heavy criticism from several members of Merkel's conservatives. They oppose the idea of a major climate law and want only laws specifying climate action measures for individual economic sectors.