In the fight for a speed limit, climate protection activists from the group Extinction Rebellion have dismantled around 250 signs nationwide that lift speed limits on highways. There were such actions in Berlin, Brandenburg, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Hesse, Baden-Württemberg and in the Ruhr area, as the group wrote on Twitter.
Activist Amelie Meyer said: “We are no longer waiting for transport ministers who only do politics for the car lobby, but are now fulfilling the wishes of the population ourselves.”
Florian Zander, press spokesman for the campaign, asked Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP): “Why are they forcing us to implement the necessary climate measures ourselves through notorious inaction?” In times of climate and environmental crises, there are no more excuses for unlimited freeways.
Extinction Rebellion calls for “Spring Rebellion”.
From April 12th to 17th, Extinction Rebellion is also calling for a “spring rebellion” in Berlin. The group called for the government to declare a biodiversity emergency and convene a loose, representative citizens’ council “to decide what measures are needed to solve the energy and environmental crisis fairly,” the website says. There will also be a large demonstration on April 15th.
The Federal Environment Agency had recently advertised a speed limit of 120 kilometers per hour on motorways and 80 km/h on country roads. This means that one sixth of the necessary reduction in climate-damaging greenhouse gases in the transport sector can be achieved.
Last week, the Federal Environment Agency announced its official estimate that transport was the only sector last year that also recorded an increase in greenhouse gas emissions compared to the previous year and exceeded the amount of emissions permitted under the Climate Protection Act for 2022.
