Environment minister Schulze to head Germany’s ‘climate cabinet’

The planned German ‘climate cabinet’ that aims to improve coordination among climate-relevant ministries to put the country on track to meet its emission reduction targets will be led by Social Democrat (SPD) environment minister Svenja Schulze, the news agency dpa reports in an article carried by the Rheinische Post. The intra-government group installed on Wednesday is likely to focus on one of Schulze’s most important policy projects, the Climate Action Law. The law, agreed on in the government coalition treaty, is supposed to set out clear pathways for emission reductions in all sectors, but a first draft tabled by Schulze’s environment ministry (BMU) has been met with staunch opposition by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU-CSU alliance, who argue that it will give the environment ministry too much say over their own fields of expertise. Alongside Schulze, the cabinet will include Chancellor Merkel, finance minister Olaf Scholz, transport minister Andreas Scheuer, agriculture minister Julia Klöckner, economy minister Peter Altmaier and chief of chancellery Helge Braun, the article says.
In an e-mailed statement, Greenpeace’s Martin Kaiser said the ‘climate cabinet’ was a good sign as it showed that the government had given priority to the topic again. In order for the cabinet to be effective, it would quickly have to implement several important climate action measures, such as decommissioning coal plants, reducing emissions in the transport sector and curbing mass production in the agriculture sector.