After Habeck's first balance sheet: environmental aid is already thinking of a traffic light lawsuit - speed limit by judge's decision?
Created: 01/18/2022 11:27 am
By: Florian Naumann
Economics Minister Robert Habeck - here on a visit to Hamburg.
© Chris Emil Janssen/www.imago-images.de
As part of the traffic light government, the Greens are getting new critics: environmental aid wants to force the federal government to protect the climate - if necessary in court.
Berlin - Shortly after taking office, the traffic light government threatened trouble with the German Environmental Aid (DUH) - above all the climate and environment ministries of the Green Ministers Robert Habeck and Steffi Lemke.
The association, which is willing to take legal action, is examining “legal steps” because of the failure to meet the targets set in the Climate Protection Act, which is expected for 2022.
The “opening balance sheet” recently presented by Habeck could serve as a starting point.
The Greens have been getting voters in the mood for missed climate targets in the first half of the legislature for a long time.
Green Minister Habeck provides environmental aid evidence: "Measures are not enough"
"We are examining what further legal steps are possible to ensure that Germany finally takes sufficient climate protection measures that ensure compliance with our obligations under the Paris Agreement in a legally binding manner," said DUH Federal Managing Director Jürgen Resch to the newspapers of the editorial network Germany.
With the report of the Federal Environment Agency from the end of 2021 and Habeck's opening balance sheet, the federal government confirmed that "neither the amended Climate Protection Act nor the measures adopted are sufficient for Germany to achieve the Paris climate goals".
Speed limit by judge?
Environmental aid wants to force Ampel to take legal action to protect the climate
Resch refers to the sector lawsuits filed against the government in 2020 and 2021, with which the association is currently having the Climate Protection Act and the action plans reviewed by the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court. "We are confident that the judges in these proceedings will oblige the federal government to take further concrete and short-term effective climate protection measures such as the speed limit."
The Greens had called for a speed limit in the election program, but failed in the traffic light negotiations due to the veto, especially by the FDP.
The liberal Transport Minister Volker Wissing only defended the decision again on Monday: Wissing told the
Handelsblatt
that he was relying on the use of more digital traffic control systems, on the digital control of traffic flows.
CO2 savings could be achieved better with intelligent, digitally controlled traffic control than with a "rigid" speed limit coming from the analogue world.
Greens: Habeck sees no chance for climate targets in 2022 - "even 2023 will be difficult enough"
The Climate Protection Act defines measures with which Germany is to become greenhouse gas neutral by 2045.
Part of the law are binding sectoral targets for reducing CO2 emissions by 2030, which set a maximum amount of emissions for each economic sector.
This is further reduced every year.
Habeck said at the end of December that Germany would “still miss” the targets for 2022.
"Even for 2023 it will be difficult enough," said the new Economics Minister of the
time
.
The DUH is known for its willingness to sue.
Recently, the association has announced constitutional complaints against several federal states because of environmental protection laws that are inadequate from the point of view of environmentalists.
(
AFP/fn
)
