Apparently, Bavaria is not progressing at the necessary pace to achieve its own climate protection goals with the targeted reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Most recently – after Corona – CO₂ emissions have even increased slightly again. This emerges from the new climate report, which the state government has recently forwarded to the state parliament and which is available to the German Press Agency. The Greens accused Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) and his government of doing nothing. A spokesman for the Ministry of the Environment, on the other hand, said: “The Free State has made a legal commitment to become climate-neutral by 2040. This goal will be achieved.”
According to Bavaria’s new climate protection law, the Free State should already be climate-neutral by 2040. By 2030, greenhouse gas emissions per capita are to be reduced by 65 percent compared to 1990. According to the climate report, this means that emissions must be reduced from 9.9 tons per capita to 3.5 tons per capita during this period. In 2019, however, emissions were still 7.3 tons per capita.
If one considers the total amount of CO₂ emissions, taking into account population growth, these must be reduced from 112 million tons in 1990 to 47 million tons. In 2019, however, emissions were still 95 million tons – “that corresponds to a decrease of 14.8 percent over a period of 29 years,” says the new climate report. And further: In order to achieve the Bavarian reduction target, annual emissions would have to fall by 49 million tons in the remaining eleven years from 2019 to 2030 “and thus more than halve (minus 51.2 percent)”. From 2019 to 2020 there was a significant drop in emissions to 91 million tons (minus 4.3 percent). However, “according to initial estimates, this is largely due to the corona pandemic and the restrictions it has caused”.
In fact, the trend did not continue, but there was a slight increase again: For 2021, the climate report for Bavaria again shows CO₂ emissions of 92 million tons – but the value is still below the value for 2019. It was difficult to make forecasts for 2022, the report continues. However, the phase-out of nuclear power and the increase in coal-fired power generation since the Ukraine war would have “considerable negative effects”, which will also be reflected in the Bavarian figures.
The Greens accuse the state government of a completely insufficient pace in the fight against advancing climate change: According to the Greens’ own calculations, greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by an average of only 0.5 million tons per year in the past ten years, from 2012 to 2021. “Saving half a million tons of CO₂ per year is no more than a drop in the ocean,” said parliamentary group leader Ludwig Hartmann. “Bavaria wants to be climate-neutral by 2040 – according to Adam Riese, we have to use five million tons less CO₂ every year from now on.” The savings would therefore have to be increased tenfold. “We know how we can do it and where we have to start – but the Söder government ignores this knowledge and continues to do nothing and block,” complained Hartmann.
“Instead of taking action, the state government prefers to calculate its own numbers nicely”
Green parliamentary group leader Katharina Schulze criticized: “Instead of acting, the state government prefers to calculate its own figures.” It is emphasized that the CO₂ emissions per inhabitant in Bavaria are lower than in other federal states. “The Söder government generously ignores the fact that the Free State imports large amounts of electricity and the emissions for the electricity consumed here are partly attributed to other federal states.” Schulze criticized that the climate report contained “only larifari” and no concrete measures. “What we urgently need is a modern climate protection law with a binding CO₂ budget and clear targets for the individual sectors so that Bavaria can become climate-neutral by 2040.”
Hartmann said: “Unlike the Söder government, we set specific climate targets – and clearly define what has to happen in the various sectors, i.e. in transport, in agriculture, in the building sector, so that we can save enough CO₂.” The ministry spokesman rejected this request. “The federal government has now also dispensed with specific sector targets and has thus followed the Bavarian path,” he said. “A lot is happening in climate protection in Bavaria,” he argued. “The Free State is making great dynamism in promoting climate protection.”
With the new climate protection law, a fundamental reorientation of climate policy in Bavaria is taking place. For example, the law stipulates the overriding public interest in all renewable energies. This should enable a substantial expansion of renewable energies. “The climate protection program is designed dynamically, is subject to a regular evaluation process with regard to the achievement of goals and is continuously adapted and updated,” emphasized the spokesman.