Germany, €100 billion climate plan. Environmentalists critical
Environment — di Andrea Barolini
Chancellor Angela Merkel has presented a €100 billion climate plan. However, it has disappointed both the Greens and environmental NGOs in Germany.
Germany, €100 billion climate plan. Environmentalists critical
Chancellor Angela Merkel has presented a €100 billion climate plan. However, it has disappointed both the Greens and environmental NGOs in Germany.
While in New York governments from around the world are preparing to take part in the climate summit convened by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, civil society has launched its own week of international mobilisation. It will culminate on Friday 27 September with what could go down in history as the largest climate demonstration ever: the third Global Strike for Future.
1.4 million people take to the streets for the climate in Germany
Already between Friday 20 and Saturday 21, numerous marches were organised around the world. From New York itself to London, from Paris to the Solomon Islands, from Sydney to Berlin. In the German capital in particular, as in the rest of Germany, turnout was exceptional. As many as 1.4 million people, according to organisers, took to the streets to demand that governments act. And also to protest against the decisions of the German government itself.
Change is coming, whether you like it or not.
1,4 million striking today in Germany alone. #ClimateStrike
1,4 million striking today in Germany alone. #ClimateStrike
The latter had in fact presented a climate plan on Friday 20: a set of measures whose cost the government has estimated at €100 billion (€54 billion to be allocated over the next four years). These should be capable of "halving CO2 emissions by 2030" for the European nation. And therefore "of meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement of 2015", explains the daily Deutsche Welle.
Petrol, trains, planes, heating: the measures envisaged by Germany's climate plan
The programme was the result of lengthy and complex negotiations between the three major parties that make up Angela Merkel's coalition, namely the conservatives of the CDU and CSU, together with the Social Democrats of the SPD. Among the measures envisaged are the gradual increase, between now and 2026, in the prices of petrol and diesel. These are followed by an increase in subsidies for electric cars, a ban on installing more polluting heating systems, a plan to improve standards on the thermal insulation of buildings, a reduction in taxes on long-distance train tickets and an increase in the cost of air travel.
A plan that has nonetheless been strongly criticised by the Greens, who regard it as a "muddled and weak" package of measures. "I am deeply disappointed," commented Annalena Baerbock, one of the leaders of the green party. It should be noted that Angela Merkel's project is based on adherence to balanced-budget principles: the so-called "schwarze null" rule, regarded as sacrosanct in Germany.
Serious doubts over the "right to pollute" system
How, then, to find the money needed to carry out the ecological transition? The idea is to rely (also and above all) on a system similar to the European ETS, under which industries can purchase "rights to pollute". In practice, CO2 emissions will have a cost for companies, which should act as a deterrent and persuade them to limit the release of climate-altering gases. The problem is that in Europe the free market has caused prices to fall for a long time to very low levels. Negligible for companies.
#UPDATE Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has reached a deal on a broad climate plan for Germany that commits at least €100 billion by 2030 to environmental protection, as tens of thousands of protesters rallied demanding action u.afp.com/Jb2v
If the same were to happen in Germany, the risk is that the revenues envisaged by the Berlin government — needed to implement the plan — could prove to be well below projections. At best, moreover, "this system will need a great deal of time before it becomes effective. And we don't have that time," commented Joachim Fünfgelt, of the NGO Brot für die Welt (Bread for the World). The mechanism is indeed based on a price per tonne of CO2 emissions that the government has set at €10 (initially, after which it will depend on market fluctuations).
The OECD is also sceptical. Fridays for Future: "A scandal"
A value considered too low by experts: "Like this, without oversight and without rules, we risk a catastrophe," observed Gregor Hagedorn, of Scientists for Future, a collective of scientists working alongside activists from Fridays for Future. Even the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has described the decision to set the price of a tonne of CO2 emitted at €10 as "too low compared with what other nations have already done. And, above all, well below what is necessary to put an end to environmental damage".
Berlin this very moment. It's our 40th climate strike here today. We are far more than 100k. Incredible. #GlobalClimateStrike
Similarly, Greenpeace spoke of a "lack of moral responsibility" on the part of the SPD and CDU/CSU. Meanwhile one of the leaders of Fridays for Future in Germany, Luisa Neubauer, described the government's decisions as "a scandal".