climate protection
FDP criticizes Lemke’s push for speed limit as “brazen”
“Come no closer to climate neutrality with a speed limit”: Christian Dürr. photo
© Kay Nietfeld/dpa
Federal Environment Minister Lemke is again debating the speed limit on motorways. The FDP defends itself and considers the measure to be symbolic and ineffective for climate protection.
The FDP has criticized Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) for a speed limit on German autobahns.
“I would like Ms. Lemke to reform the climate protection law quickly. Then we no longer have to discuss symbolic measures,” said Christian Dürr, chairman of the FDP parliamentary group, the German Press Agency. “The effect of a speed limit is so small that we wouldn’t get any closer to climate neutrality.”
The deputy leader of the FDP parliamentary group, Carina Konrad, invited the environment minister to talk about effective climate protection. “Almost every day a new speed limit proposal greets from the ranks of the Greens,” said Konrad. “That’s not only bold because it’s excluded in the coalition agreement, but also doesn’t change the fact that the manageable climate impact of a speed limit is rather negligible.”
In an interview with the German Press Agency, the Environment Minister had previously called for more efforts to be made to protect the climate in traffic and brought up a speed limit on motorways. A speed limit could make a significant contribution to climate protection, said Lemke. However, for well-known reasons, it is not part of the coalition agreement. Above all, the coalition partner FDP rejects a general speed limit on German autobahns.
According to calculations by the Federal Environment Agency, a nationwide general speed limit of 120 kilometers per hour on motorways would reduce total CO2 emissions from passenger cars and light commercial vehicles by around 2.7 percent. With a speed limit of 100 km/h, the reduction would be almost six percent.