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Altmaier's 20-point plan: how Germany should achieve the climate goals

2020-09-11T14:31:59.712Z


"We have disappointed many people in terms of climate protection," explains the Minister for Economic Affairs and wants to make global warming a top priority with a 20-point plan. What should you think of Altmaier's change of heart?


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Federal Environment Minister Peter Altmaier in front of wind turbines in the Feldheim community in Brandenburg.

Photo: Thomas Imo / imago images

Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier has long been seen as a brake on climate policy.

In his ministerial offices, including as environment minister, other topics were always more important and climate protection was often just a cost factor and a welfare killer.

The minister admitted mistakes for the first time during the summer break.

A second mea culpa followed on Friday afternoon at an appointment in Berlin, where Altmaier presented a 20-point plan for climate protection and economic power: "For 20 years we had ever more pressing problems such as reunification, 9/11 or banking crises - this is now the case Time to put climate protection under the umbrella. "

So that climate protection becomes a top priority, the Minister of Economic Affairs has now single-handedly proposed a "historic compromise between climate protection and the economy".

"I want to give young people guarantees that we will actually achieve climate neutrality by 2050," said Altmaier.

The 20 points of the climate plan actually include some innovations:

  • All parties in the Bundestag and Bundesrat should adopt a "Charter for Climate Neutrality and Economic Power", in which

    annual reduction

    targets from 2022 to 2050 are to be set.

    If the climate targets are missed, that would be a political issue immediately and not until 2030 or 2050. That way, politicians could take action more quickly.

  • Altmaier also wants to set a certain

    share of the gross domestic product for climate protection

    every year by 2050

    .

    This would make climate protection a permanent item in the budget, like the armaments budget.

    How high the expenses should be is unclear.

    The aim, however, is to price in the necessary investments as stable as possible.

  • Public institutions, such as

    schools or ministries, should become climate-neutral

    by

    2035

    and, for example, obtain electricity and heat from renewable energies.

    For the first time there would be a nationwide target.

    In view of the investment backlog in schools, cultural institutions and swimming pools, however, it is questionable whether the federal states and municipalities will ultimately have the money they need for the renovations.

  • Another suggestion is a

    measurement of climate progress

    by authorities, companies and organizations, which is publicly available.

    The aim is for citizens to keep track of who the climate pioneers are and which actors are still lagging behind.

    At the UN level, there are already attempts to evaluate the climate efforts of companies and to make their climate goals transparent.

    So far, however, the register is voluntary.

  • Companies should be given more support if they commit to

    reducing their emissions more quickly

    .

    This can be useful in order to stimulate CO2-intensive industries to rethink.

At first glance, the plan reads ambitious, but on closer inspection it hardly changes the facts that have long been created by the federal government: In its 2019 climate package, all the foundations for the 2030 climate goals have already been set.

So Altmaier's plan comes very late or it has little effect on the German climate targets - or both.

Because the Minister of Economic Affairs does not want to change the status quo of the laws, he said.

The minister does not want to shake the CO2 price of 25 euros per ton from 2021 for fuel, heating oil or gas, which is criticized as far too low, regardless of the climate charter.

This is the only efficient lever to make faster progress in climate protection.

The other points of the Altmaier Plan fall into the category of well-intentioned suggestions at best.

There is still talk of a "house of the energy transition", while in Germany the expansion of renewables has been on the ground for months.

Then an "international agency" Climate global "will be introduced, a kind of PR agency for climate protection successes. And that where Germany only just missed its climate targets. Then of course there is also a new climate council in the Ministry of Economics and a climate university .

None of this is wrong, but it almost seems cynical in view of the government's climate package, which, according to experts, is ambitious, to which Altmaier belongs.

The climate impact of the projects is so small that the 2030 targets will also be missed.

The only pressure on the federal government's controversial climate policy is currently not coming from Mr Altmaier, but from the EU - where the German EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been working unswervingly on her Green Deal and climate neutrality for 2050 for months.

According to Peter Altmaier, the federal government wants to take action if the EU climate targets are raised.

"We will have to adjust European emissions trading and national CO2 pricing in line with EU decisions."

Altmaier also records this as part of his new climate campaign: "I would not have made this advance if I was not convinced that we need a paradigm shift."

This week, however, others preceded: The Environment Committee of the European Parliament voted for an increase in the EU climate target to 60 percent.

So far it is 40 percent, currently 50 to a maximum of 55 percent compared to 1990 are under discussion.

Next week, the Commission President wants to announce the increase in climate targets - at least 55 percent are expected.

In the Environment Committee, however, Altmaier's party colleagues from the CDU tried to prevent an increase.

"The CDU mobilizes in the European Parliament against a progressive climate policy and, together with right-wing extremists and climate deniers, votes against the climate goals that are even favored by the conservative Commission President," said Michael Bloss, Green MEP, commenting on the result of the vote.

"I would not have made this advance if I was not convinced that we need a paradigm shift."

Peter Altmaier, Federal Minister of Economics

But not only Greens and Fridays for Future, but also the industry is pushing more and more for a reliable climate policy.

The Minister of Economic Affairs also senses this.

When he visited the steel giant Thyssen Krupp in Duisburg a month ago, it was only about one thing: How politics can help industry with climate protection.

The fact that Altmaier apparently throws it into the ring on his own and without consulting his cabinet colleagues or the Chancellor does not exactly contribute to the credibility of the plan.

Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) in particular should not be very happy about this.

You could also make suggestions, the economics minister teased.

That smells a lot like an election campaign.

The comments on the alleged "cross-party draft" were correspondingly malicious: the left-wing faction finds it "too weak", the Greens even see a "diversionary maneuver". 

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Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2020-09-11

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