Expert tip: The traffic light climate protection package isn’t enough

Traffic light made an effort, but missed the point of separation: this is how the expert panel’s assessment of climate issues can be summed up. And with the climate protection program and about 130 measures from Germany’s ticket to the expansion of renewable energy sources, the federal government has presented a package that will certainly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, experts say. But it is not enough to achieve the savings target by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2045.

The federal government should provide more carbon dioxide

According to the Climate Protection Law, Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions must decrease by at least 65% by 2030 compared to 1990. “The gap has narrowed, but there is still a gap,” says Brigitte Knopf, deputy chair of the expert council. At the start of the legislative period, the gap was 1,100 megatons of climate-damaging gases. Still, Economy Minister Robert Habeck currently forecasts a gap of 200 megatons by 2030 and sees this as significant progress. “The climate protection gap left by the previous government will be closed by about 80 percent,” Habeck says.

The government’s accounts are very optimistic

However, it is now necessary to think about where the rest of it can be saved, advocates climate researcher and physicist Brigitte Knopf. What’s more: Experts have questioned whether there are really 200 megatons left too much. When calculating how much the measures save carbon dioxide, experts attest to a certain degree of optimism in the federal government. The amount of savings a traffic light assumes and the amount that is actually saved can vary greatly. “So perhaps the expected overall reduction is overestimated,” says the expert council’s chairman and physicist Hans-Martin Henning.

The construction sector and traffic remain a problem for children. Traffic, in particular, continues to miss strongly against climate targets. Bad reference for Transport Minister Volker Wissing. The gap there will be between 117 and 191 megatons of carbon dioxide by 2030.

In the video: Climate Council President Hans-Martin Henning, interviewed by BR24