Climate cabinet

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The Air Cabinet , also called "Cabinet Committee climate protection," is one of the most 20 March 2019 the German Federal Government ( Cabinet Merkel IV ) inserted Committee . Its purpose is to ensure that the Climate Protection Plan 2050 from 2016 is implemented in Germany and that the 2030 climate protection targets are met as a first step . In September 2019, the cabinet presented plans for the so-called climate package , which met with strong criticism, especially among scientists.

Members

The climate cabinet consists of Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and the six Federal Ministers Svenja Schulze (Environment), Olaf Scholz (Finance), Peter Altmaier (Economy), Horst Seehofer (Construction), Andreas Scheuer (Transport) and Julia Klöckner (Agriculture). The committee also includes the head of the chancellery, Helge Braun, and the state secretary and government spokesman Steffen Seibert .

Resolutions of September 20, 2019

Comparison of the agreed CO 2 price (orange) with the scientific recommendations for the Ministry of the Environment (green) and the Economic Advisory Council (gray)

After three meetings, a fourth was scheduled for September 20th. The subsequent decisions related to funding programs, new requirements and a price for the greenhouse gas CO 2 in Germany.

For packages of measures of the climate cabinet a one CO 2 prize in the amount of 10 euros per tonne of CO 2 from 2021. This is thus significantly lower than the imported price in other countries (such as Switzerland. 80 euros per ton, Sweden: 115 € per ton). In future legislative periods, this should then rise to 35 euros per ton in 2025. From 2026, national emissions trading is to be introduced with a minimum price of 35 euros and a maximum price of 60 euros per ton of CO 2 . For the period from 2027 onwards, the price corridor can be adjusted or even dropped entirely. In addition, the commuter allowance is increasing, which is intended to compensate for a rise in gasoline prices. Rail travel is to be made cheaper by lowering VAT to the reduced rate of 7%, which is to be financed by a corresponding increase in the air traffic tax. Part of the income from CO 2 pricing is to be used to lower the electricity price by 0.25 to 0.625 euro cents per kWh. The package of measures also contains various individual measures (65 in total) for the building, transport, agriculture and forestry, industry, energy and waste management sectors, as well as some cross-sectoral measures. The climate cabinet is to remain in place indefinitely in the future and to review the effectiveness of the measures taken annually. The Federal Government would like to be accompanied by a council of experts.

Originally it was planned that each individual ministry would list the specific greenhouse gas savings of the proposed climate protection measures for the overall package, which should then be checked by so-called "cross experts" for their suitability for climate protection. In the course of the negotiations, however, all the relevant figures, both for the individual proposals and for the overall package, were removed from the climate protection program presented later. According to the Süddeutscher Zeitung, this means that it is no longer possible to check both the climate protection effect of individual measures and whether the climate protection package as a whole can achieve the emission reduction required for the 2030 climate target.

At the beginning of October it became known that the plans for the Climate Protection Act agreed on September 20 at the instigation of the Union parliamentary group had been weakened even further shortly before they were introduced into the Bundestag: In the new draft bill , the national CO 2 savings target for 2040 was removed and the promised achievement climate neutrality for Germany will be weakened by 2050 and replaced by a more non-binding formulation. The control mechanisms that are supposed to ensure that Germany actually achieves the goals have also been weakened. For example, the Climate Council should no longer produce an annual main report in which the measures implemented by the government are checked for effectiveness. Also, contrary to the original version, the Climate Council is no longer allowed to make proposals if ministries threaten to miss their CO 2 saving targets. The government should also be able to change emission levels between individual sectors without the consent of the Federal Council . It should also be possible to carry over missed climate targets into the future.

Last but not least, the weakening of the control mechanisms that are supposed to guarantee compliance with the climate targets met with criticism. When the framework package was presented in September, the government had presented these mechanisms as the greatest success of its agreement. The expert council, which serves as a control, is also affected by the softening: In it, only two of the five members are actually supposed to be climate experts.

Analyzes

A study by the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin (DIW) came to the conclusion that the CO 2 price path is not sufficient to achieve the climate targets in the transport and building sectors and that the measures examined in the climate package for people with low incomes in almost all of them Load areas more heavily than citizens of the higher income groups:

  • For example, low- wage earners would be more heavily burdened by “the CO 2 price of fuels and heating fuels”, since they have to spend a higher percentage of their income on the corresponding basic supply.
  • The DIW estimates that the “average burdens” of the lower income deciles when the climate package is actually implemented “will rise to over one percent of net household income” (as opposed to just 0.4 percent for the higher income groups).
  • In addition, low-wage earners with particularly long journeys to work are disadvantaged twice, since they can save less money with the commuter allowance.

Despite the disadvantage of people with low incomes, according to Claudia Kemfert from DIW Berlin , the climate package makes little contribution to climate protection: "We have calculated that at a price of ten euros a bin there is almost no steering effect."

According to an assessment by scientists from the Mercator Institute and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, the CO 2 price path is too short and too low to have a sufficient steering effect for the 2030 climate target. Even before this, it could lead to a violation of Germany's goals in the context of EU burden-sharing. The analysis constant a social imbalance: The compensation for poorer households is inadequate, the middle class is most heavily burdened. Particularly high-earning commuters with long journeys would benefit from the planned long-distance commuter flat-rate. Plans by the federal government to advocate a minimum price in EU emissions trading and its expansion to the transport and building sectors are welcomed. The mandate of the expert council planned as part of progress monitoring is viewed as weak.

The Federal Environment Agency determined that the planned distance rules for wind turbines would jeopardize the German climate targets. A share of 65 percent electricity from renewable energies by 2030 could not be achieved at a distance of at least 1000 meters from residential developments.

Reactions

scientist

  • The scientists' association Scientists for Future stated in a press release that they were "horrified by the climate package". The measures are “absolutely inadequate” and “do not do justice to the urgency of the climate crisis and the reduction targets to be pursued”. The federal government's reduction targets were “nowhere near enough to make the German contribution to the 1.5 degree target of the Paris Climate Agreement ”. The measures presented by the Climate Cabinet are "inconsistent" and there is a lack of "sufficient will to initiate innovations in low-greenhouse gas products and the necessary social upheaval". In particular, “the planned CO 2 price is set significantly too low in the short and long term [...] to be able to develop control effects”.
  • Christian Flachsland , sustainability researcher from the Hertie School of Governance , said: "The climate protection package is an expression of climate policy discouragement."
  • Ottmar Edenhofer , head of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), criticized the resolutions almost word for word as a “document of political discouragement”, pointing out that “with this decision [...] the federal government did not meet the climate targets it had set for 2030 achieve [will] ”, and demanded an entry-level CO 2 price of 50 euros per ton. The submitted plan is "at best the suggestion of a change of direction".
  • Anders Levermann (PIK) stated that achieving zero emissions by 2050 with an entry price of 10 euros per tonne of CO 2 would not be possible: “This key issues paper is a clear political failure. We don't need political compromises now, we need reductions. ”Germany simply no longer has time to try out a large number of subsidies and incentive programs, but must“ push ahead with a huge restructuring over the next ten years ”. It is no longer possible to continue as before, because then “everything will fly into our ears”.
  • Stefan Rahmstorf (PIK) criticized that the government had promised not to deliver a “Pillpalle” anymore, but that the package was exactly again Pillpalle. He also criticized the government's ignoring scientific advice. It is “as if the doctor prescribes a course of antibiotics for an acute and life-threatening infection, from now on 5 tablets per week, then increase. And first you do nothing for a week, then you take one tablet a week, and two the next week. "
  • Friederike Otto , head of the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford : “It is extremely disappointing to see that the federal government continues to make politics out of fear of change. So there will have to be a new climate package very quickly and nothing will be achieved, the necessary step will be further delayed. "
  • Mojib Latif from the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel was “appalled by the fact that almost nothing was decided” and added: “Germany is showing that it is once again a brake on climate policy.” The package was almost a "zero number". The climate protection goals could not be achieved with the “mini-steps” envisaged therein.
  • Manfred Fischedick from the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy criticizes the level of the CO 2 price: “The starting price is ten euros per ton of CO 2 . How is this supposed to have a steering effect? ​​"
  • Volker Quaschning , co-initiator of Scientists for Future, told the media that he recognized “no logic and no expertise” in the key issues paper. The government pretends “as if we had 200 years. Then the measures would be good, but not for 15 years ”. He also criticized the fact that the CO 2 price came too late and was far too low. The government “didn't even dare to take this microstep into this legislative period”. In an initial reaction on Twitter , he called the results “listless, visionless, existence-threatening for our children”. As a scientist, you actually have to remain objective, but he can "not eat as much as I want to throw up after the #climate protection package".
  • Brigitte Knopf criticized the inadequate level of the CO 2 price from a scientific point of view : "According to our calculations, the CO 2 price should be significantly higher from the start, otherwise Germany will miss its climate targets." to rise to 35 euros per ton, an entry price of 50 euros would be necessary, which would have to rise to around 80 euros per ton by 2025.

Political positions

  • As a budget expert, Sven-Christian Kindler from Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen criticizes the negotiated compromise on the climate package and draws the following conclusion: "This federal government has completely failed in the human task of climate protection", and a. because despite additional investments amounting to 26 billion euros, the state burns 57 billion euros every year for climate-damaging subsidies. Annalena Baerbock , party leader of Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen, criticized the package of measures as "a departure from the Paris climate goals and from our future." Her colleague Robert Habeck criticized the planned increase in the commuter allowance from 30 to 35 cents per kilometer. In any case, the steering effect of the CO 2 price on petrol and diesel, which was barely perceptible , was completely increased in the first few years ”. High-earning commuters would even be more tax-relieved than charged. In addition, he criticized: "And it does not create a new train station, no additional train connection, no more reliable cycle to get to work comfortably from rural areas." Top earners benefited much more than normal earners, low earners got nothing.
  • Jörg Meuthen , AfD federal spokesman, said: “Germany's CO 2 emissions make up just two percent of global CO 2 emissions. Merkel's climate cabinet could therefore abolish Germany's entire industry, shut down all cars and power plants, and none of this would have any measurable effects on the global climate. ”He also added:“ The concentrated madness ”of the federal government is based“ on the climate religion of eco-socialist truants and their left-wing green backers ” . Alice Weidel , chairman of the AfD parliamentary group, tweeted: "Ban on oil heating, increase in the price of heating oil, gasoline, diesel, coal and natural gas: The citizens are mercilessly squeezed for an ideology!"
  • The FDP expresses doubts about the measures adopted because of the climate-damaging production of electric cars. Linda Teuteberg , General Secretary of the FDP, stated: “It is clear that unfortunately it is already becoming apparent that it is a hodgepodge of uncoordinated individual measures.” Instead, she calls for “a simple system of CO 2 pricing”.
  • Lorenz Gösta Beutin , climate policy spokesman for the Left , described the results as "an empty shell, because incentives and emissions trading are not enough to achieve decarbonization quickly enough."
  • The Federal Audit Office criticized in a report to the budget committee that planned the climate package tax reductions would prefer for an energy efficiency of buildings, especially high earners.

Environmental associations

  • Kai Niebert , President of the German Nature Conservation Ring (DNR) classified the CO 2 price as “ineffective”.
  • Sascha Müller-Kraenner , Federal Managing Director of Deutsche Umwelthilfe said: “What the Climate Cabinet presented today are just air bookings and empty promises. Chancellor Merkel and the ministers of the climate cabinet are again avoiding important decisions. "
  • Lisa Göldner from Greenpeace ruled that the grand coalition could not protect the climate and that the Union and the SPD “obviously lacked the courage” to “secure our future”. The organization calls on the federal government to take back the paper and work out a new climate package that will meet the challenges of the climate crisis.
A banner hung in Münster criticizes the climate package that was adopted on September 20, 2019

Climate activists

  • In an open letter, the Fridays for Future movement described the climate package as a “political declaration of bankruptcy”. With the key issues paper, the federal government ignored the desire of hundreds of thousands of young people for a future worth living, the wake-up calls from science and from large parts of the population. The activists demanded a major overhaul.

population

  • According to a survey by the opinion research institute Emnid among 500 people for Bild am Sonntag , individual measures announced were rated positively (e.g. 87 percent welcomed the reduction in VAT on train tickets and 68 percent higher taxes on flight tickets), but only around a third of the respondents use the climate package as a whole for an effective contribution to combating climate change.
  • According to a Politbarometer survey published on September 27, 53 percent of those questioned considered the measures adopted in the climate package to be inadequate. In contrast, only a third welcomed the planned increase in petrol and diesel prices.

Result of the mediation committee

Changes

Following criticism from the Federal Council, the federal government announced improvements to the climate package in November 2019. CO 2 -intensive companies should be relieved.

On November 29, 2019, the Federal Council decided to appeal to the mediation committee on the planned law that should implement the measures of the climate package in tax law . An agreement was reached on December 18. Among other things, the distribution of burdens between the federal government and the federal states was changed; the federal states are to receive compensation of 1.5 billion euros for shortfalls in income. The long-distance commuter flat rate is to be increased by a further 3 cents in the years 2024–2026. In agreement with the Federal Council, the federal government intends to develop measures in the first quarter of 2020 to improve the acceptance of wind turbines; this should above all include a participation of the municipalities in the income.

The federal government also promised to adopt significantly higher CO 2 prices in spring 2020 by amending the Fuel Emissions Trading Act. The price should therefore not be set at 10, but already at 25 euros per ton in 2021 and rise to 55 euros per ton by 2025 (instead of the previous 35 euros per ton). Subsequently, the price is determined by trading in emission certificates, whereby the total amount of certificates is to be limited in accordance with the climate targets. In 2026, the price should be able to fluctuate in a corridor of 55 to 65 euros. The additional income is to be used in full to lower the EEG surcharge and to finance the higher long-distance commuter flat-rate from 2024.

Analyzes

Price paths: 1. as decided in September 2019 (until 2026, lower line, dashed), 2. decision position in December 2019 (until 2026, upper red line), 3. as likely necessary to meet the climate targets (2026-2030, gray)

According to an analysis by economists Ottmar Edenhofer , Matthias Kalkuhl and Axel Ockenfels , the adjustments partially eliminate the social imbalance of the September proposals. Despite the higher prices, the planned system is still inadequate: the prices are still too low to meet the European obligations, especially since the European climate targets are to be tightened further. In addition, less high-income households would be more burdened again over time; In order to maintain the social balance, the income should increasingly be returned to the citizens, for example as a climate dividend . According to the scientists, CO 2 pricing is still too low in weight compared to regulatory and promotional measures .

The German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) also comes to the conclusion in an analysis that the CO 2 price path alone is still not enough to meet the emissions reduction targets for 2030 in the transport sector. The prices could be sufficient for the goals in the building sector. Despite the additional reduction in electricity prices, there would still be higher percentages of pollution in population groups with low net incomes. The DIW also recommends a climate dividend as social compensation.

Implementation of the resolutions

The resolutions are implemented in particular through a federal climate protection law , a law to implement the climate protection program 2030 in tax law and a fuel emissions trading law .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ways to environmental protection: Federal government sets up climate cabinet. In: zdf.de . March 20, 2019, accessed August 21, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b Key points for the climate protection program 2030. (PDF) Federal Government, accessed on September 21, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Climate Cabinet will decide on September 20th. In: Deutsche Verkehrs-Zeitung. July 19, 2019, accessed September 14, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Markus Balser u. a: That's what the government wants to do for the environment. Süddeutsche Zeitung, September 20, 2019, accessed on September 21, 2019 .
  5. ↑ The coalition's climate package: Inside and outside, worlds in between .
  6. ↑ Government deletes figures from climate protection program . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , September 26, 2019. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
  7. ↑ Government weakens climate protection targets . In: Spiegel-Online , October 6, 2019. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
  8. ↑ Environmentalists outraged by weakened climate plans . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , October 7, 2019. Accessed October 7, 2019.
  9. ↑ DIW Berlin: DIW Berlin: Steering, supply , distribution: Effects of CO 2 pricing and reimbursement of the climate package. Retrieved November 18, 2019 .
  10. ↑ a b c Susanne Götze : Scientists on the federal government's climate package: Good night . 20th September 2019.
  11. ^ Ottmar Edenhofer , Christian Flachsland , Matthias Kalkuhl, Brigitte Knopf, Michael Pahle: Assessment of the climate package and next steps - CO 2 price, social balance, Europe, monitoring . October 14, 2019 ( mcc-berlin.net [PDF; 1000 kB ]).
  12. ↑ Planned distance rules for wind turbines endanger climate targets. Federal Environment Agency, November 20, 2019, accessed on November 22, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Scientists For Future on the Climate Package - Too Little, Too Slow, Too Late . Scientists for Future press release. Retrieved September 24, 2019.
  14. ^ WORLD: Science: Edenhofer: Climate resolutions of the coalition "Document of political discouragement" . 20th September 2019.
  15. ↑ On the way to the climate summit in Madrid: Greta Thunberg is combative . In: Frankfurter Rundschau , December 3, 2019. Accessed December 4, 2019.
  16. ↑ a b Criticism of the climate package is growing. This is how Minister Schulze reacts . In: Hamburger Abendblatt , September 21, 2019; accessed on September 21, 2019.
  17. ↑ Josh Groeneveld: Climate researcher on Groko climate package: "Extremely disappointing", "Alibi function", "Cosmetics" .
  18. ↑ a b Destructive criticism of the federal government's climate package . 20th September 2019.
  19. ↑ Scientists on the climate package: Lots of shade, little light . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , September 21, 2019; accessed on September 21, 2019.
  20. ↑ “There have never been so many”: Climate protests cover entire planets . In: Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung , September 20, 2019; accessed on September 21, 2019.
  21. ↑ This graphic shows how ambitious the climate package is . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , September 21, 2019; accessed on September 21, 2019.
  22. ↑ Deutschlandfunk : Green budget expert on the climate package: "The federal government did not deliver". Sven-Christian Kindler in conversation with Martin Zagatta. Retrieved October 2, 2019 .
  23. ↑ a b Malte Kreutzfeldt: Results from the climate cabinet: Two worlds in the government district . 20th September 2019.
  24. ↑ n-tv : weaknesses in commuter allowances. Habeck is annoyed by faux pas. Retrieved October 3, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Jörg Meuthen: Climate Cabinet resolves concentrated madness . presseportal.de. 20th September 2019.
  26. ^ A b ZEIT ONLINE: Climate Policy: Applicants for SPD chairmanship attack Union because of climate package . 20th September 2019.
  27. ↑ Handelsblatt : FDP accuses the federal government of glossing over e-cars. Retrieved October 3, 2019 .
  28. ^ "Court of Auditors criticizes tax laws from the climate package" mdr.de of October 23, 2019
  29. ^ ZEIT ONLINE: Climate Policy: "This is not our climate package" . 23 September 2019.
  30. ↑ Climate cabinet fails: Federal cabinet has to pull the emergency brake and refuse to approve disastrous proposals .
  31. ↑ # Not My Climate Package. Retrieved September 24, 2019 .
  32. ↑ Fridays for Future - activists call for a revision of the climate package. In: zdf.de. October 4, 2019, accessed February 16, 2020 .
  33. ↑ Press release from September 20, 2019, 2:45 p.m. In: ende-gelaende.org. September 20, 2019, accessed September 23, 2019 .
  34. ↑ Jörg Staude, Friederike Meier: Climate Protection? The next government please! In: klimareporter.de . September 23, 2019, accessed September 23, 2019 .
  35. ↑ Maria Mast, Katharina Heflik, AFP, dpa: Environmental activists: Blockades for the immediate coal exit . In: The time . November 30, 2019, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed December 17, 2019]).
  36. ↑ Lusatia dominates the coal protest weekend. In: rbb24. Retrieved December 17, 2019 .
  37. ↑ Current survey: Germans consider the climate package to be largely correct .
  38. ↑ Politbarometer September II 2019. Elections Research Group , September 27, 2019, accessed on November 19, 2019 .
  39. ↑ Federal government promises improvements to the climate package. Süddeutsche Zeitung, November 29, 2019, accessed on January 10, 2020 .
  40. ↑ a b Mediation Process - Law for the Implementation of the Climate Protection Program 2030 in Tax Law. In: vermittlungsausschuss.de. January 2, 2020, accessed February 16, 2020 .
  41. ↑ The basis for the CO2 price is in place. The Federal Government, December 19, 2019, accessed on January 10, 2020 .
  42. ↑ a b Ottmar Edenhofer, Matthias Kalkuhl, Axel Ockenfels: The Federal Government's Climate Protection Program: A Turning Point in German Climate Policy? In: Perspectives of Economic Policy . February 2020, doi : 10.1515 / pwp-2020-0001 .
  43. ↑ Stefan Bach, Niklas Isaak, Lea Kampfmann, Claudia Kemfert, Nicole Wägner: Improvements to the climate package right, but still insufficient - increase CO2 prices more and introduce climate bonuses . In: DIW news . No. February 27 , 2020 ( diw.de ).
  44. ↑ Draft of a law introducing a federal climate protection law and amending other regulations (draft law dated October 19, 2019). Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, accessed on November 14, 2019 .
  45. ↑ Draft bill of a law on a national emissions trading system for fuel emissions (draft bill dated October 9, 2019). Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, accessed on November 14, 2019 .