It is the sharpest decline in Germany in over thirty years, which the Federal Environment Agency announced on this spring Friday. In 2023, over ten percent fewer greenhouse gases were emitted than in the previous year. By 2030 it could be 64 percent less than at the time of reunification, climate experts calculate.
Compliance with Germany’s climate targets has never been more likely. And yet the good news is deceptive.
The traffic light coalition has played a decisive role in ensuring that emissions are falling more sharply than under previous governments. The heat pump has found its way into the minds and basements of the republic. Above all, significantly less hard coal, lignite and natural gas are currently being used in this country to generate electricity and heat.
This is only possible because Germany is decisively pushing forward the expansion of its renewable energy sources. The annual expansion targets for photovoltaics were already achieved before last winter, and wind power expansion is also making progress, albeit more slowly. Hydrogen network, CCS strategy, climate agreements – the traffic light delivers when it comes to climate protection, especially under pressure from the Greens.
However, the positive development also has a lot to do with the struggling economy. The industry has only exceeded its sector targets prescribed by the Climate Protection Act because companies are producing and investing less and the German export engine is stuttering. The order situation has been poor for months. Production and financing costs have risen massively as a result of the inflation dynamics.
In the building sector, too, Germany only slightly missed its targets last year because the winter was so mild. Because of this and because of the higher prices, there was less heating. If people can no longer afford heating, this is less a consequence of a successful climate policy than a sign of a socially unbalanced climate policy.
This is particularly evident in the transport sector – the biggest problem child for years. Despite less freight traffic on the road, Germany has emitted 13 million tons more greenhouse gases than it should. Car traffic is not increasing because of Weselsky’s wave strike, but because German transport policy has been car-centric for decades and neglects public transport, while diesel enjoys tax advantages over other fuels and kerosene is still not taxed at all.
Effective climate protection would be to abolish these billion-dollar climate-damaging subsidies and provide people in cities and rural areas with climate-friendly, reliable public mobility.
But it is precisely here that Germany’s ambivalence when it comes to climate protection becomes apparent. While Germany’s progress is being celebrated in Berlin, Germany in the EU is slowing down on numerous climate protection measures.
Whether it’s laws for more environmental protection in supply chains, strict requirements for the use of recyclates in packaging or quotas for reusable bottles: Germany recently distinguished itself in Brussels and Strasbourg primarily through abstention.
The European decarbonization of transport is progressing not because of Germany, but in spite of it. In January 2023, FDP Transport Minister Volker Wissing blocked the final negotiated phase-out of internal combustion cars from 2035 – and softened it in favor of ecologically inefficient e-fuels.
The same thing happened in February of this year with the law for stricter CO₂ rules for heavy commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses, which account for around 30 percent of greenhouse gases in Europe’s transport sector. The FDP only gave up its last-minute veto after the Chancellery got involved and the EU Commission under President Ursula von der Leyen reached a compromise in favor of synthetically produced fuels.
The fact that parts of von der Leyen’s EVP recently announced during the European election campaign that they wanted to reverse the combustion engine phase-out puts the crown on the tragedy. This not only undermines Germany’s credibility in Europe, but also endangers the achievement of Europe’s climate goals.
Source: Tagesspiegel
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