The traffic light coalition wants to reform the climate protection law. But what that means for crucial details is highly controversial.
It only took a few minutes before it became clear that nothing was really clear. A few weeks ago, the traffic light coalition had negotiated for almost thirty hours in the coalition committee. Among other things, they agreed on a reform of the Climate Protection Act. But when the party leaders appeared before the press shortly after the end of the marathon, one could wonder if they were really talking about the same reform.
Will every sector continue to be held accountable if it fails to achieve its climate targets? So Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) for transport, Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD) for the building sector and so on? Or will what the Greens and climate protectors fear become reality: that the biggest climate sinners can hide even better behind a large overall savings target by the federal government?
FDP leader Christian Lindner said after the negotiations: “We will overcome the pure sector orientation.” Instead, there is “a long-term, cross-sectoral perspective”.
Green leader Ricarda Lang said only a little later: “It is clear that the sector targets will remain as a principle of the climate protection law.”
The dispute over the climate protection law is just one of many in the traffic light. But he is important. Not only because it is about fighting the climate crisis, but also because it is about avoiding a coalition crisis. The Greens are increasingly displeased with their partners, which the SPD and FDP are not simply letting up on.
This Monday will fuel the debate again. The Federal Government’s Expert Council for Climate Issues will announce whether Germany has met its climate targets in the past year. And he wants to comment on the reform plans of the climate protection law. Both will probably be uncomfortable.
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“General Attack on Climate Protection”
It can be assumed that the experts will particularly criticize Volker Wissing’s (FDP) transport sector. In August last year, they described an emergency program that the Minister of Transport had to submit later as “already without sufficient claim”. The experts also criticized the efforts of Klara Geywitz (SPD) in the building sector, but much milder.
And as if that wasn’t enough climate criticism for the federal government, the expert council could also say unpleasant things about the planned reform of the climate protection law this Monday. In any case, in previous reports, the committee assigned the sector targets an “important function” because they refer “the political responsibility” for climate protection targets “to a responsible ministry”.
Climate protection activists have been protesting against the reform for weeks anyway. “The planned abolition of the annually controlled and readjusted sector targets in the Climate Protection Act is a general attack on climate protection,” says the federal director of German environmental aid, Jürgen Resch, t-online.
“Should the German Bundestag actually decide on such a change, this would effectively mean the end of an effective climate protection law,” says Resch. “FDP Minister Wissing could continue his policy against a turnaround in traffic and for the road unchanged.” It is therefore “essential” that the sectors are “committed to annual emission reductions”.
What are the sector targets still worth?
Despite all the discord, there seems to be a consensus in the traffic light that there should also be something like sector targets in the new climate protection law. The Greens see this as a success for themselves, because Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) would also like to delete them completely in the coalition committee. The decisive question, however, is what they should still be worth in the future. Opinions in the coalition differ widely on this.
