CDU head’s call for climate consensus could be dead on arrival – opinion

Conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party head Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer’s call for a cross-party consensus on climate action “threatens to be dead on arrival” as even the government parties openly argue about the way forward, writes Thomas Sigmund in an opinion piece in the Handelsblatt. “Only FDP [business-friendly Free Democratic Party] leader Christian Lindner jumped right in and is ready to talk,” writes Sigmund. “On no account will the Greens let Kramp-Karrenbauer moderate away their campaign topic.” And even Kramp-Karrenbauer’s predecessor, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, is unlikely to “let the new CDU boss dictate the agenda” as the once-so-called “Climate Chancellor” has announced there will be no more “easy-peasy” approach to climate policy, writes Sigmund.

So far, even the governing CDU/CSU and SPD parties have failed to agree on measures, such as a CO₂ price, to help the country reach its 2030 climate goals. Because of the dispute, some members of the government have even called into question the continuation of the grand coalition. In the past weeks, German parties have hurried to put together proposals on how the country could reach its national and international climate targets as pressure from recent election results, ongoing climate protests and an early heatwave continues to mount.