With regard to the official estimate of the emission of climate-damaging greenhouse gases, the climate protection movement Fridays for Future accuses the governing coalition of irresponsible inertia and in particular the FDP of a targeted blockade policy.
“Today will be a black day for the federal government, for the climate and for all the people who counted on the fact that traffic lights can be relied on when it comes to climate,” said activist Luisa Neubauer of the German Press Agency in Berlin with a view to the forecast of the Federal Environment Agency expected on Wednesday. Annika Rittmann said: “The federal government is once again confronted with its failure in terms of consistent climate policy.”
The estimate of emissions for 2022 is considered politically explosive because a number of sectors, especially transport, are lagging behind the targets in the Climate Protection Act. It is expected that emissions will stagnate at a high level compared to the previous year or at most fall very slightly – despite lower energy consumption by households and industry as a result of the Ukraine war. Critics see this as an alarm signal with regard to the climate goals of the coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP.
Neubauer: Government incites climate chaos
Neubauer said the figures from the Federal Environment Agency should have consequences. “In 2023 you can no longer explain to anyone how a government that has both the majority of the population behind it and the necessary concepts at hand willingly incites climate chaos instead of making the necessary contribution to prevent disasters.”
Rittmann particularly criticized Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) and FDP leader Christian Lindner. “The blockade of measures that have already been decided in the building and transport sector and the refusal to take all scientifically necessary measures show that, above all, neither Lindner nor Wissing are prepared to fight the climate crisis despite foreseeable disasters.” The self-proclaimed “Climate Chancellor” Olaf Scholz is now responsible for ensuring that the measures agreed in the law and in the coalition agreement are implemented in the fight against global warming.
According to the UBA, almost 759 million tons of the climate-damaging greenhouse gas carbon dioxide were emitted in Germany in 2021 – four percent more than in 2020 and 39 percent less than in 1990. According to the Climate Protection Act, emissions should fall by at least 65 percent compared to 1990. By 2045 Germany must be climate-neutral, i.e. not emitting more greenhouse gases than are broken down. Transport, for which Wissing is responsible, is the only sector that has not been able to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in recent decades.
