As of: 12/29/2021 2:36 p.m.
According to Economics Minister Habeck, Germany will miss its own climate targets in 2022 and probably also in 2023. The reason: The new government has to deal with a lot of legacy issues. Habeck still wants to stick to the rapid nuclear phase-out.
He took office to substantially advance Germany’s climate policy. But as soon as he is in office, the new Economics Minister Robert Habeck has to announce bad news: Germany will probably not achieve the climate targets it has set for itself in the next two years.
“We will probably still miss our targets for 2022, even for 2023 it will be difficult enough. We are starting with a drastic delay,” said Habeck of the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit”. And added, probably with a view to the work of the previous government: “We are starting with a drastic backlog,” said the Green politician.
The German Climate Protection Act passed in 2019 provides for annual CO2 reductions that are reviewed by an independent expert council. If milestones are missed, the responsible ministries have to make adjustments within three months. In 2020, the building sector missed the CO2 reduction target – which was partly due to the corona lockdowns and increased home offices. The transport sector is also seen as a problem area.
Habeck made it clear that he expects a countermeasure from Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) Habeck: “There are measures that are not excluded in the coalition agreement that will then be introduced by the Transport Minister,” said Habeck.
Structural change also brings “bitter news”
A spokeswoman for Habeck announced that the minister would present his climate protection plans in January. This will then also include the massive expansion of renewable energies – a structural change that, according to Habeck, will not proceed without pain.
“New jobs will be created, we are not running out of work, on the contrary,” he told “Die Zeit”. “But this goes hand in hand with the fact that old jobs in coal mining, for example, will disappear or change, and that can be bitter news individually or for regions. So there will also be disappointment and perhaps anger, I am not under any illusions.”
Sticking to anti-nuclear consensus
This process could possibly be cushioned with a slower exit from nuclear energy. After all, it should be completed as early as 2022. But Habeck wants to stick to the date. Because a politician who calls for the reconstruction of atomic energy “would have to say that I would like to have the nuclear waste repository in my constituency. As soon as someone says that, I will deal with the subject again,” said the minister.