“We will have to abstain”

Switching to less resource-intensive consumption patterns is part of the solution to cutting carbon emissions, Felix Ekardt writes in a guest article for Zeit Online. Germany can only achieve its climate targets if people are willing to reduce their demand for clothes, meat, fuel and many other things, the sustainability researcher from the University of Leipzig argues. If global environmental protection targets are to be met, “nature has to be given more space,” he writes. Ekardt argues that until recently, we did fine without frequent long-haul flights and modern sports equipment, for example. Pushing new products on to the market and then correcting some of their environmental impacts is “not a sound eco-strategy.” Doing without could mean shifting away from a focus on growth but reducing consumption “is at least as important as the newest technological innovations,” Ekardt says.

Read the article in German here.

Find more information on Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions and climate targets in this CLEW factsheet.