DGB boss calls for a "social deal" on climate protection

Fundamental changes are necessary for more climate protection.

But how should people be taken along?

Berlin - DGB boss Reiner Hoffmann has called for more social equality in climate protection.

He told the German Press Agency in Berlin: “For the transformation to be a social success, the Green Deal must also become a Social Deal.

That would be a departure that we need. "

Hoffmann said: “Today, the lowest-income households are hardest hit by the climate policy decisions - regardless of whether you take the costs for heating or transport.

We need alternatives to the combustion engine that are affordable for the people. ”An energetic building renovation is necessary, in which the costs for lower-emission buildings are not passed on to the tenants alone.

"We need more affordable living space, also in inner-city locations, so that the commute times to work are finally shorter and not always longer."

The EU Commission recently presented a comprehensive package of measures so that more stringent climate targets can be achieved - the EU also speaks of a “Green Deal”.

No more net greenhouse gases are to be emitted in the EU by 2050.

The new federal government must quickly get to work and make important decisions, said Hoffmann, chairman of the German Federation of Trade Unions (DGB).

"If we really want to make decarbonization and digitization an economic success, then politics must be courageous and invest so that people's living conditions can be significantly improved."

It is also about strengthening the municipalities, because a large part of the investments go through them.

“People have to find out on site that the change is having a positive effect on them.

If the municipalities are condemned to save through debt brakes, then there will be fewer public swimming pools and libraries, and municipal fees will rise.

Then less will be invested in modern infrastructure, in modern schools.

Then, in the end, acceptance of politics will flutter.

Enormous investment by the state would be necessary to shape this change.

“The debt brake must remain suspended, we should fundamentally reform it - anything else would slow down investments,” Hoffmann demanded again.

“Because without a boost in public and private investments, we cannot change the course.

A lack of investment would jeopardize the widespread connection of households to the fast internet as well as the expansion of renewable energies, which makes the phase out of coal possible in the first place. "

The federal government had suspended the debt brake as a result of the immense costs of the corona crisis, but according to the government draft for the budget, it should be complied with again from 2023.

The debt brake makes only a small amount of net borrowing possible.

The EU Commission had proposed a separate emissions trading system for road traffic and the building sector. In Germany, there is already a CO2 price for these areas that makes fuel and heating more expensive. The SPD had spoken out against a too rapid and strong increase in this price. dpa