Open letter on climate protection: “Increase the pace enormously”

In an open letter, hundreds of representatives from political parties, science and society demanded that politicians do a lot more when it comes to climate protection. A co-initiator refers to measures that have already been developed.

The federal government should ensure the “German contribution to global compliance with the Paris climate goals”. This is what more than 400 representatives from politics, science, religion and society demand at once open letter to Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the ministers and members of the Bundestag, the state parliaments and the EU Parliament.

Open letters are noted, but not commented on, a government spokesman said on request. “The federal government is pursuing an ambitious climate protection policy,” said the spokesman. Chancellor Scholz and the ministers have repeatedly made public statements about this, most recently during the government survey on March 29.

A co-initiator of the open letter, Heinrich Strößenreuther, refers to the conversation tagesschau.de to the catalog of measures of the “GermanZero” organization, which has drawn up a package of laws to achieve the 1.5 degree target. The CDU politician and board member of the Climate Union gives a few examples of the measures that would have to be taken: Germany would have to switch completely to e-mobility by 2035, convert the energy supply completely to solar, wind and storage electricity and operate the heat supply via local heating networks and heat pumps.

Innovations for climate-friendly behavior

Above all, the federal government must take the regulations that already exist in the area of ​​climate protection seriously, says transformation researcher Maja Göpel tagesschau.de. She also signed the open letter. “The federal government should at least take into account what has already been passed,” said Göpel. She finds it disappointing that last week the coalition committee of the traffic light government softened the sector targets, which have required all ministries to meet certain reduction targets for greenhouse gas emissions since 2019.

“The Ministry of Transport in particular does not come off well in the report of the Expert Council on Climate Issues,” states Göpel. In 2021, the transport and construction ministries had not achieved their goals, so they had to draw up emergency programs. But the Ministry of Transport in particular has repeatedly been criticized for not having presented an adequate programme.

Göpel sees the CO2 price in particular as a useful instrument with a steering effect. The government should also not subsidize individual activities such as refueling. “A mobility allowance that also applies to bicycles and public transport would make sense in terms of market policy,” says Göpel. Innovations must be brought into society as quickly as possible that enable citizens to behave in a climate-friendly manner.

“A historically unprecedented task”

“We belong to the last generation that can stop what is threatening us: the global loss of our control over the man-made climate crisis,” stated the initiators of the open letter. Climate protection is a cross-party, state-supporting and historically unprecedented task, the adaptation of the infrastructure is a mammoth task.

“For this massive conversion, it is important that we now increase the pace enormously,” says the letter. It is about changing the energy supply, insulating buildings, enabling mobility without fossil fuels and saving energy. “What we really need is a comprehensive climate policy that is implemented quickly. We can no longer afford to be half-hearted, no more smoke screens, no more hesitation.”

Criticism of the coalition committee

Politicians from various parties have signed, including CDU politicians such as the Lord Mayor of Konstanz, Ulrich Burchardt, former Secretary of State for the Environment, Jürgen Becker, and the former CDU Secretary General, Ruprecht Polenz. The Greens include mayors such as Katja Dörner from Bonn, Belit Onay from Hanover, Uwe Schneidewind from Wuppertal and Stefan Fassbinder from Greifswald. Several politicians from the SPD and Left Party, scientists and prominent environmentalists also joined the call.

Last week, the SPD, Greens and FDP in the coalition committee agreed, among other things, on accelerating the expansion of the motorways at 144 points, investing billions in the rail network and relaxing climate protection rules. The acceleration of motorway projects and the softening of climate targets for individual sectors were criticized by environmentalists.