Government majority: Stricter climate protection law passes Bundestag

The Bundestag passed the new climate protection law with the votes of the governing coalition – despite massive criticism from the opposition. With the exception of the AfD, the law does not go far enough.

It was just three months ago that the Federal Constitutional Court ruled: The previous Climate Protection Act of 2019 must be improved, the measures to reduce emissions from 2031 are inadequate. Improvements were made in a hurry – and now the Bundestag has passed the stricter climate protection law with the votes of the grand coalition. 352 MPs voted for, 290 against, and 10 abstained.

Greenhouse gas neutral five years earlier

The national goal of becoming greenhouse gas neutral by 2045 instead of 2050 is now enshrined in the new, tightened law. The emissions target by 2030 will also be increased. By then, Germany should reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 65 percent compared to 1990 levels. The old climate law provided for a minus of at least 55 percent.

Environment Minister Svenja Schulze was very satisfied after the vote: The law forms a “strong foundation”. Now the expansion of renewable energies must be given priority and the infrastructure modernized. “The Climate Protection Act will now ensure that we can reliably achieve the new, the significantly higher targets for 2030 and 2040, right up to greenhouse gas neutrality in 2045,” said the SPD politician.

Sharp criticism from the opposition

The opposition assesses the law very differently from the minister. For various reasons, the law does not go far enough for the Greens, the Left Party and the FDP: Never before has a federal government had so many options when it comes to climate protection, said the chairman of the Greens parliamentary group, Anton Hofreiter. But the grand coalition did not use this “in a mixture of timidity and excessive demands”. The Left Party criticized, among other things, the lack of will for a climate-friendly traffic turnaround. And the FDP called for better coordination with European partners.

The largest opposition party, the AfD, is different: it denied that there is any CO2-related climate change at all. “There is no climate emergency caused by CO2, not now, not tomorrow and the day after tomorrow either,” said AfD MP Karsten Hilse.

The law now has to be passed by the Federal Council.