Dear readers,
you don't want to swap with Olaf Scholz.
On the one hand, the SPD politician must set up his party in a thematically future-proof manner for the upcoming federal election campaign - in which climate protection should be a key issue for the social democrats.
On the other hand, his commitment to two fossil energy projects, for which he campaigned as finance minister last year - and which is completely contrary to sensible climate protection, is now flying around the ears.
On Tuesday, the environmental organization "Deutsche Umwelthilfe" published a letter from Olaf Scholz to his former US counterpart, Steven Mnuchin.
In the two-page letter dated August 7, 2020, Scholz proposes a deal: The federal government could take a billion euros in tax money to promote the construction of liquid gas terminals in northern Germany.
This could be used to import natural gas, which in the USA is also obtained by fracking.
In return, the US may please end its resistance to the construction of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia.
The letter is declared as "Non Paper", that is, as unofficial paper and apparently the fold-up to a phone call between the two.
In plain language this means: Apparently, SPD Chancellor Olaf Scholz has offered to spend a billion in tax money to enable the import of climate-damaging fracking gas from the USA - above all so that a pipeline can be built in parallel to carry climate-damaging gas from Russia to Germany transported.
On Wednesday, the Bundestag even summoned the finance minister from the Corona round with the federal and state governments in parliament to take part in an ongoing debate on Russia policy.
In the meantime there are increasing indications that not only Scholz but also the federal government and the top SPD parliamentary group were privy to the absurd plan.
The letter had been coordinated with the specialist departments, said SPD parliamentary director Carsten Schneider on Wednesday in Berlin.
The Chancellery was also involved.
The federal government declined to comment on Wednesday.
Unclear statements about fracking
Scholz's offer is also noteworthy in view of the arguments made by Scholz's party colleague Manuela Schwesig.
The Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has had to put up with some criticism in recent weeks because she decidedly linked the construction of the new Nord Stream pipeline with climate protection, the state set up a foundation to support the further construction, which of all things gave the title "Foundation for Climate and Environmental Protection MV" carries.
The SPD politician also demanded from her opponents that anyone who rejects Nord Stream must explain why fracking gas from the USA is actually better.
On September 18, 2020, Schwesig gave a dedicated speech in the German Bundestag.
She countered the Greens: "They expect that we would have to do without the Russian gas and instead use fracking gas, that would be more expensive and more harmful to the environment."
That was exactly six weeks to the day after Scholz had offered in his letter to Mnuchin that he would campaign for American liquefied gas if US resistance to Nordstream 2 was ended.
At this point in time, the correspondence was already public because "Die Zeit" had quoted it in a report dated September 16.
None of this is particularly credible.
The whole story becomes an immediate problem for Olaf Scholz because of one other offer: It is called »future missions« and is aimed at the voters.
Scholz presented it on Sunday.
The focus is on the transformation of Germany into a climate-neutral economy.
»We want to stop man-made climate change and operate in a CO2-neutral manner by 2050.
That presupposes the greatest technological revolution, but that is possible, «said Scholz.
The cornerstones of the SPD (expansion of renewable energies and power grids, CO2-free building sector, heating transition and charging infrastructure) are at least heading in the right direction.
If you look for details on the website, you will find many key terms on climate protection there, but still comparatively little spelled out goals, which are broken down with intermediate steps, according to sectors and underlaid with numbers and instruments.
That should still follow.
A lot of political capital for the fossil past
The SPD now seems to know about the importance of the climate crisis for the federal election campaign and has recognized that it must somehow occupy the issue if it wants to hold its own against the strengthened Greens.
The fact that, despite the great announcement of the »future missions«, most of the details are still missing, one can read like this: The party is still not quite sure how or how ambitiously it wants to proceed here.
At least it can be said that the Social Democrats seem to have difficulties in breaking away from the fossilized past.
The unconditional fight for Nordstream 2 shows that. Not only Prime Minister Schwesig is throwing a lot of political capital into the pipeline, Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (also SPD) spoke out in favor of the project, which is at least remarkable for a climate ministerial head.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) even tried the Second World War: In an interview with the Rheinische Post, Steinmeier defended the Baltic Sea pipeline with the argument that energy relations were almost the last remaining bridge between Russia and Europe.
He pointed out that Germany also had to keep an eye on the historical dimension and recalled the German attack on the Soviet Union, which took place on June 22nd for the 80th time.
One could continue here with the advertising that Stephan Weil, SPD Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, made in the past for the diesel engine as a climate protector, or the creative warning from the Social Democrat Dietmar Woidke, Prime Minister of Brandenburg, that a quick coal exit could strengthen the AfD.
For the election campaign of the SPD, the positioning on the climate issue for the coming months is crucial.
No matter how the party positions itself, there will be risks involved.
It is questionable whether their core electorate will honor genuine climate protection policy.
The current course, with future missions on the one hand and fossil fuel politics on the other, is certainly the worst way, it hardly allows for credibility.
If you like, I will inform you once a week about the most important things about the climate crisis - stories, research results and the latest developments on the biggest topic of our time. You
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SPD Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz: "We want to stop man-made climate change"
Photo: Rainer Keuenhof / Getty Images
The topics of the week
Catastrophe in Northern India: Why climate change is making life in the mountains so dangerous
A landslide has triggered a flash flood in the Himalayas.
170 people are still missing.
Climate change makes these disasters more likely, researchers say.
Also in the Alps.
The effect of climate change on the cold front: Warning, weather disruption!
The weather is changing in a surprising way due to climate change: It is not just getting warmer, but also significantly colder in between.
As is currently the case in parts of Europe and America.
GM exit plan by 2035: VW, BMW, Daimler and Co. are planning to say goodbye to the internal combustion engine
GM boss Mary Barra has startled the auto industry: From 2035 the group will no longer build cars with gasoline or diesel engines.
Other manufacturers shy away from such a clear statement.
Some dawdle, others are even more radical.
Climate protectors against Kretschmann: Eco-party attacks Green stronghold
Under Winfried Kretschmann, the Southwest Greens have become part of the political establishment.
In the state election, the former eco-pioneers are now facing competition from a new party.
Blockchain researcher: "Bitcoin needs as much electricity as Norway"
The boom in crypto currencies has serious consequences for the climate: computer scientist Ulrich Gallersdörfer explains why this is - and how it could be done better.
Oil giant ExxonMobil in crisis: The giant is shaking ExxonMobil was
once one of the most powerful American companies.
The group is now the target of activist investors - despite the climate crisis, it continues to rely on fossil fuels.
Dispute between environment and agriculture ministers: climate policy becomes a question of power
Who will determine the future of German agriculture?
Internal documents show how the agriculture ministers refuse to give their environmental colleagues a direct say in climate protection.
Soils as a carbon sink: climate protection from below
Soils can store gigantic amounts of carbon.
Scientists want to use this to get CO₂ emissions out of the atmosphere.
Landscape architect on the problems of megacities: "For many people, life in Bangkok has become unbearable"
What will megacities have to look like in the future so that people can still live in them despite climate change?
How is the pandemic changing public space?
Ideas from Bangkok, one of the fastest sinking cities in the world.
Warmed up
Where does the goal of the world to become climate neutral by 2050 actually come from?
The amazing story of a hidden sentence ("Bloomberg")
Coronavirus, species extinction and climate change - all three are related.
Virologist Sandra Junglen researches what humans have to do to prevent future crises (»Zeit Online«)
Fossil fuels are responsible for significantly more deaths than previously assumed (»Süddeutsche«)
According to a new study, countries must increase their climate efforts by around 80 percent in order to meet the Paris climate targets
("Washington Post")
Artistic Research: How Oil Has Shaped Our Society (»Der Standard«)
Published
Laughing gas as a climate driver
In addition to carbon dioxide and methane, the amount of laughing gas (N2O) in the atmosphere is also increasing.
In contrast to its name, however, this has rather sad consequences, since it is a greenhouse gas 265 times more effective than CO2.
Biochemical reactions in soils play an important role in the formation and release.
These are basically natural processes, which, however, are reinforced by the use of nitrogen fertilizers.
In order to find out exactly which reactions take place underground, researchers exposed pieces of soil from cultivated meadows in the Tyrolean Stubai Valley to a wide variety of environmental conditions.
Contrary to what they expected, they found that the release of N2O persists even under drought conditions.
However, nitrous oxide emissions were particularly high after re-humidification following prolonged drought.
"Denitrifying pathways dominate nitrous oxide emissions from managed grassland during drought and rewetting"
Harris et al., 2021 Science Advances
Stay confident
Your Kurt Stukenberg
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