EU climate target: New dispute in the coalition

In the first week after the summer break, the coalition is once again in contention – this time over the new EU climate targets. These are intended to reduce the member states' combined greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent by 2040 compared to 1990 levels. The decision on this is due next week.

It is supposed to be decided by the environment ministers. However, unlike Environment and Climate Minister Carsten Schneider (SPD), the Federal Chancellery wants this to happen in the European Council of Heads of State and Government. The key difference is that in the Council of Environment Ministers, a simple majority is sufficient, whereas the decision in the EU Council must be unanimous.

It would be highly unlikely that the ambitious target would meet with unanimous approval among the heads of state and government. The result: The new climate law, including its reduction targets, which would then have to be approved by Parliament and the member states, would be postponed. And the accusation of wanting to water down the targets altogether is looming.

"The grinding friction within the coalition is audible and difficult to bear . I'm also annoyed about it," Schneider told the newsletter service Table. He added that the coalition agreement had stipulated otherwise. SPD parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch also emphasized, with regard to a possible postponement of national or even EU climate targets: "This decision could be very, very toxic."

Schneider warns: "If we adopt a different target for 2040 at the European level, one that envisages less CO₂ reduction, but are forced at the national level, including by the Constitutional Court, to do more, then that will be a special burden for German industry." No one wants that. "Everyone with their senses should move in that direction."

In its national climate targets, Germany aims to reduce emissions by at least 88 percent by 2040 compared to 1990 levels, and has set a goal for 2045 of producing no more new greenhouse gases than can be removed from the atmosphere. The EU's new climate target also stipulates that up to three percent of the 90 percent reduction can be achieved through climate protection investments in other countries.

France also insists that the heads of government vote on the Commission's proposal, not the environment ministers. Schneider said on Tuesday that the task now is to persuade France and Italy to give a clear yes. However, if there is no consensus within the German government, it cannot cast a vote either.

Additional pressure is being exerted in view of the upcoming November UN Climate Change Conference in Belem, Brazil. The EU is also deriving its binding Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for 2035 from its 2040 climate target. The European Union's NDC would have to be published before the start of the climate summit in Brazil. The NDC should have been submitted to the UNFCCC in February.

Climate activists recently appealed to Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) in an open letter: "Prevent this delay in climate protection! Ensure that the EU 2040 climate target of minus 90 percent and the EU's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) are adopted by the Environment Council on September 18." Anything else would jeopardize international climate protection.

(With dpa material)