The Federal Environment Agency estimates that Germany has generally complied with the target values of the Climate Protection Act. So is the climate policy of the traffic light on the right track?

Lukas Fuhr

Editor in politics.

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Unfortunately, this is deceptive. We only complied with the values because the industry used so much less energy. This was due to the high energy costs due to the Ukraine war. If this effect is excluded, the figures are worrying, especially in the transport and building sectors.

In your opinion, what should be done to meet the sector target for transport?

The FDP says yes, we solve everything through emissions trading. Then the price of fuel would have to rise sharply and there would immediately be a discussion about social compensatory measures with opposite effect. That is why I am personally – my party still sees it differently in parts – in favour of a speed limit on motorways. You should try that for three years. Perhaps one could even say that electric cars are exempted from this speed limit. Overall, we need to significantly accelerate the switch to electric transport, especially in cities. So far, people have been concerned that they will find too little charging infrastructure for their electric car. And we have to tackle freight transport. Decarbonisation is easier there because the useful life of a truck is only seven years anyway and you therefore have to change the fleet more frequently. We should rely on different drives in a technology-open manner.

What about an expansion of the railways?

Everyone is in favour of rail transport, including me. But let's be realistic: by 2045, there will not be enough rail infrastructure to shift freight traffic largely there. Without truck traffic, logistics would collapse.

How could the building sector become more climate-friendly?

We cannot avoid renovations. As far as heating is concerned, we should rely much more on local heating networks. It is better for neighbours to get together than for everyone to have their own heat pump installed. This is also a task for local politics.

The traffic light coalition had already promised an immediate climate program in the coalition agreement. The Federal Climate Protection Act also prescribes sector-specific programmes if the targets are not achieved. This, however, is met with skepticism in the FDP. Do you expect such programs to come?

I find the behaviour of the FDP as a party based on the rule of law shameful. A legal obligation must not be violated intentionally. There are sectoral targets, and if they are not met, there must be a sufficient immediate programme. As long as there is no change in the law, the FDP-led Ministry of Transport must also adhere to it. The whole world is upset about climate stickers that break the law, but the FDP deliberately breaks the climate protection law.

The CDU is currently working on a basic program. What role will climate protection play in this?

Climate protection will certainly be formulated as an overriding goal. However, a programme of principles is not, of course, a package of measures, but must continue to serve as orientation in a few years' time, when we hopefully find ourselves in a different situation. Unfortunately, I am sceptical as to whether we will then have achieved the necessary expansion of renewable energies. The traffic light has done a lot for the expansion. But if you read the estimate of the Federal Environment Agency, you can hardly imagine the achievement of the climate targets. The longer we leave global warming unanswered, the more expensive it will become. We have no alternative: 1.5 degrees is not just a political goal, but a physical limit. That's why we're rebuilding what is essentially a 250-year-old fossil infrastructure within 20 years. In the basic program, the CDU will certainly say that this cannot work without the forces of the market economy – definitely not with the state economy.