Bavaria postpones state climate neutrality target to 2045
SZ
The state government of Bavaria has confirmed plans to postpone its target to become climate neutral by five years, from 2040 to 2045, reported Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ). The state's environment ministry is set to table a proposal to amend the Bavaria’s climate law, which parliament would then have to adopt, the newspaper said.
In future, the state’s initially more ambitious climate target will be aligned with the national 2045 target, said state environment minister Thorsten Glauber. “This is because climate protection is largely shaped by international, European and national legislation,” he argued.
In spring 2021, the Federal Constitutional Court issued a landmark ruling obliging the German federal government to pursue a more effective climate policy. The government then decided to pull its national target five years forward from the European Union's 2050 target.
Shortly after the court ruling, Bavarian state premier Markus Söder said that “our goal must be to achieve climate neutrality by 2040” and introduced the state target. Four years later, the state government's confirmation of the changed target now ended months of uncertainty regarding the Bavarian government's sustained commitment to what Söder had called a "generational task." According to media reports, the government had already decided in 2024 to postpone the 2040 target, citing economic challenges and Germany’s nuclear energy phase-out as drivers. However, it failed to make this decision public for weeks, and the revelation caused an uproar.
In Germany’s federal system, the states have limited authority when it comes to climate and energy legislation. However, they can for example introduce legislation that specifies or tightens energy efficiency rules, or set stricter targets. Voters in Germany's second-largest city – Hamburg – in October approved a referendum requiring the city to reach climate neutrality by 2040 — five years earlier than planned.
