Berlin Germans produce too many greenhouse gases when driving and heating their homes. The Expert Council for Climate Issues has confirmed the emission data determined by the Federal Environment Agency for 2021.
According to this, the energy sector, industry and agriculture have caused less carbon dioxide as required by law. On the other hand, the building and transport sectors failed to meet the climate targets – despite the corona pandemic and less car traffic.
The Climate Protection Act provides specifications and a mechanism: Every year, the Federal Environment Agency presents the emission data, which the expert council reviews. If it is confirmed that individual sectors have missed their targets, the responsible department ministers have to react: within three months they have to present measures with which they want to immediately save too much CO2 emitted. From the Greens’ point of view, such a fast-acting instrument would be a speed limit, which again caused a lot of disputes in the coalition.
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) has to react to the report of the Expert Council. The transport sector, especially freight transport, emitted three million tonnes of CO2 too much in 2021. “Our analysis indicates that without the special effects, emissions in traffic would have been even higher in 2021,” explained Hans-Martin Henning, Chairman of the Expert Council. Without Corona, the climate gap would have been significantly larger.
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Emissions from traffic must fall by 65 percent by 2030. In this year alone, the climate balance should improve by a further six million tons in addition to the three million tons from 2021.
It is questionable how seriously the coalition still takes the annual specifications. Even the Expert Council is calling for a reform of the law and criticizes that it is “too mechanistic” to have to launch an emergency program year after year in case of doubt.
However, the transport sector will miss its targets by a quarter of a billion tons of CO2 by 2030, as the federal government itself has forecast. So far, Minister Wissing has not revealed how he intends to close the gap in the short term or at least in the long term. So far, only one paper has been circulating in the ministry with possible incentives and support measures, which, however, would cost well over 100 billion euros and are not sufficient on their own to achieve the climate goals.
Promote, promote – or ban?
The draft budget for 2022 is also not very promising: there should be less money for funding programs, for example for the purchase of climate-neutral vehicles. The funds for new charging infrastructure are also expected to decrease from 2023. The coalition wants to subsidize the purchase of electric cars and plug-in hybrids less. At best, Wissing would like to introduce a climate toll for trucks. From 2024, it could flush many billions of euros into the coffers in order to help finance the many funding plans.
In view of the legal obligation that still exists, the Greens are calling for action to be taken quickly and a general speed limit. It would have an immediate effect, even if it only saved one to two million tons of CO2 a year. “We want to get off oil, we want to get off Russian oil,” said the Greens’ transport policy spokesman, Stefan Gelbhaar.
He called on the FDP, which is against a speed limit, to make proposals to finally save carbon dioxide in the transport sector. Therefore, the coalition is discussing a speed limit. “At the end of the day, the point is that the FDP might also make other suggestions on how to save oil.”
Is there still a general speed limit on German autobahns?
(Photo: imago/photothek)
The opposition in the German Bundestag comes in handy with the traffic light coalition’s speed limit dispute. For example, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag submitted a motion to the Transport Committee calling for a “clarification of the position on the introduction of a general speed limit on federal motorways”. The Federal Ministry of Transport should also present a written report at the meeting after Easter.
“This is a transparent game by the opposition,” said the transport spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group, Dorothee Martin, to the Handelsblatt. She pointed out that the SPD had advocated a speed limit in its federal election program and continued to hold this opinion.
At the same time, however, it is very important to the FDP that there is no speed limit, which is why this has already been stated in the exploratory paper of the coalition negotiations. There are no discussions in the party leadership that deviate from the coalition agreement. Everyone can voluntarily drive slower if they want to save energy. “There are much more important issues than a speed limit,” said Martin.
“What is in the coalition agreement applies,” said the spokesman for transport policy for the Union faction, Bernd Reuther. “Symbolic politics doesn’t get us anywhere,” he told the Handelsblatt.
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Two weeks ago, the coalition partners agreed on another relief package. A speed limit was discussed again. As it was said in coalition circles, the Greens had referred to the bad mood at their base and called for success. There was talk of a free ticket for local transport. Late that night, Minister of Transport Wissing suggested launching a monthly ticket for local transport that was cheaper for three months – for nine euros a month.
How does the traffic light keep up with the speed limit?
In fact, the environmental organizations are dissatisfied with the Greens. “Especially in the transport sector, greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced easily and effectively by setting a speed limit – you just have to want it,” demanded the President of the Nature Conservation Union (Nabu), Jörg-Andreas Krüger. “A moratorium on new motorway construction until their climate impact has been re-examined would now be logical.” Minister Wissing rejects this.
“The traffic lights continue to cause confusion and uncertainty in traffic,” said the traffic policy spokesman for the Union faction, Thomas Bareiß, in view of the speed limit debate. The average top speed on German autobahns is already 117 kilometers per hour.
In addition, there is a permanent or temporary speed limit on large parts of the motorway. “The current ideology-laden debate about the introduction of a general speed limit – fueled by the discussion about Russian oil and gas imports – is meaningless,” he said.
The Secretary General of the CSU, Member of the Bundestag Stephan Maier, also criticizes the governing coalition and the debate about the speed limit as “activism”, as he told the Handelsblatt. “It is naïve to think that a speed limit or a car-free Sunday could free us from energy dependence on Russia.”
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