Greens’ climate ministry proposal faces opposition by other parties’ candidates

Chancellor candidates Armin Laschet (conservative CDU/CSU) and Olaf Scholz (Social Democrats – SPD) have come out against the Green Party proposal to install a climate ministry in the next government with a veto right over other ministries. “Climate action is the chancellor's job,” Laschet – the most likely candidate to replace chancellor Angela Merkel according to current polls – told Rheinische Post. He added that all cabinet members would have to contribute to transform the country’s economy and make it climate neutral. “Smart climate action is a cross-sectoral task and not a veto job of a green minister,” said the state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia. Social Democrats’ candidate and current finance minister Olaf Scholz said he would make climate action a top priority task of the chancellor, should he become Germany’s next leader. “Climate action will be driven forward in the chancellery,” he wrote in a message on Twitter.

If they are part of a future government, the German Greens want to install a climate ministry that has the right to veto other ministries’ plans in case they are not compatible with the Paris Climate Agreement, party leaders Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck announced during a press conference this week. The climate ministry is to lead a "climate task force", which would convene weekly in a federal government meeting and steer policy towards the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5-degrees Celsius. The instalment of such a ministry is part of the Greens’ ten-point plan of immediate climate measures for the first 100 days of government.