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Insulation of a tenement house in Frankfurt am Main
Photo: Arne Dedert / picture alliance / dpa
The federal government and representatives of the grand coalition have agreed on a list of immediate programs to promote climate protection in Germany.
The 26 individual projects on the list, which is available to SPIEGEL, have a total volume of just over eight billion euros.
This includes measures in the various areas of climate protection, from traffic to industry, buildings and agriculture.
The largest single item is therefore the federal subsidy for energy-efficient buildings with 2.5 billion euros.
The money is used to support investments in the efficiency of new buildings and the renovation of old buildings by the state.
The second largest item of expenditure with 650 million euros goes into the program, with which companies can develop climate-neutral production processes, for example in the steel or cement industries.
Vague statements about the carbon price
The federal government wants to use additional taxpayers' money to support a whole range of specific projects that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
This ranges from the construction of two emission-free survey and wreck search ships to gastight liquid manure storage sites and the expansion of the cycling infrastructure.
Research into hybrid-electric flying is to be funded, but also an immediate program for 1000 fast charging stations on the highways.
"Following the logic of the Climate Protection Program 2030, the short-term, attractive financial support for switching to climate-friendly technologies will gradually be replaced by incentives and rules," says the immediate climate protection program that was agreed on Tuesday.
The coalition of the SPD and CDU / CSU has rejected a number of measures.
There were supporters in the Union for an increase in CO2 prices on fuels.
That is why a bitter dispute had broken out in recent weeks between the governing parties and the Greens, who are in favor of an increase.
The immediate program now contains a rather general formulation: CO2 prices are "an important instrument" for climate protection.
How much it should rise because of the once again tightened climate targets is not said: "An additional increase in the CO2 price in the national fuel emissions trade can only take place with additional social cushioning," is the draft of the immediate program.
No agreement on higher CO2 prices
Obviously, the coalition has not yet been able to agree on the question of whether landlords and tenants will have to share the costs of the CO2 surcharges on heating oil and natural gas in the future.
That was a demand of the SPD, which both Union and SPD-led federal ministries have agreed to.
But there was considerable resistance from the real estate industry and the Union faction.
In the past few days, compromise solutions had been discussed again and again.
There may also be no agreement on this until next week, when the Bundestag will meet for the last time before the Bundestag election.
From Union circles, it is said to the SPIEGEL that it will continue to discuss this and other points within the government.
Even with a whole series of monetary demands, the ministries could not get their way.
Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) wanted to get 1.1 billion euros from Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) for the digitization of the rail network, with which he was thrown off.
It is controversial in many projects that are now being supported with budget funds that their climate-protecting effect will only occur in many years.
These include, for example, the expansion of the waterways.
There are no other measures such as a speed limit on motorways or a regulation that penalizes gas-guzzling cars when buying them.
The immediate program is related to the amendment of the Climate Protection Act, which is to be decided in the Bundestag in the coming week. Germany's climate target was tightened again. According to this, greenhouse gas emissions should decrease by 65 instead of 55 percent by 2030 compared to 1990. According to the draft law, climate neutrality must be achieved by 2045. The eight billion immediate program is to go through the federal cabinet next week and then be decided by the budget committee of the Bundestag.
