Test results presented: Court of Auditors criticizes climate policy

The Federal Court of Auditors has again sharply criticized the government’s climate policy. In its new test results, the Bonn authority denounces, among other things, the large office space of the federal government.

When it comes to climate protection, the Federal Court of Auditors does not rest. On the one hand, the federal government is investing billions to achieve climate neutrality – on the other hand, they do not know how successful these investments are. Federal Audit Office President Kay Scheller sums it up in a simple way: the federal government must clarify what climate protection costs and whether it works.

“The federal government should know which expenditures and which inputs are climate-friendly, whether they are climate-neutral or climate-damaging,” says Scheller. This information should be summarized in a climate budget in order to have a more precise picture.

A year ago, the Federal Court of Auditors sharply criticized the blind flight in climate policy in a special report by the federal government. So far, however, none of the recommendations made by the Bonn auditors have been implemented. “And that’s why we have addressed these demands again to the Bundestag and the federal government,” said Scheller.

Court of Auditors: Confederation is undermining its own climate policy

At the same time, the Federal Court of Auditors lists examples of how the federal government is undermining its own climate policy – for example by reducing the air traffic tax every year, because this would make passenger flights cheaper and therefore more attractive.

The Federal Court of Auditors also sees the large number of vintage cars on Germany’s roads as harmful to the climate. The old cars are used more and more in everyday life, but have poor emission values. The federal government is promoting this development with a lower tax for classic cars. That is bad for the climate and the federal budget: Every year, income of 170 million euros is lost.

The federal government is renting more and more office space

On the other hand, the federal government could very easily save money and protect the climate: it must stop renting more and more office space. The civil federal authorities have expanded to 8.2 million square meters of office space in recent years – as if new forms of work such as home office, desk sharing and co-working spaces had not yet been invented. “A lot has happened here, so the federal government should give up surplus space and keep new buildings to a minimum.” 20 percent less space means around 300 million euros in rent savings. And the federal government would have to heat less, which relieves the climate.

Positive examples are the European Commission, the federal states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, and also the Federal Audit Office itself, says Scheller: “Thanks to optimized use of space, we have reduced our space requirements, were able to vacate a property completely and rent it out. The employees are working more and more flexibly, and that created these effects.”

Reconstruction of Stasi documents “failed”

But the Federal Court of Auditors has also identified undesirable developments at the federal level apart from climate protection. The attempt by the Stasi documents archive to reconstruct torn files from the GDR state security is taking a particularly long time. This includes a research project that should digitize the tedious puzzle work. The yield: The contents of 23 paper sacks were put together in this way.

“After almost three decades there is no progress here, but high costs totaling 17 million for a restoration of 0.1 percent of the total stock,” criticizes the authority. The verdict of the Federal Audit Office is unequivocal: At this rate, it will take 800 years for all files to be reconstructed, and it would even be faster to do it by hand. The project failed completely.