Germany’s grand coalition government fails on climate - opinion

Environment and climate policy “do not take place” in Germany under the current grand coalition government of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU/CSU alliance and the Social Democrats (SPD), writes Michael Bauchmüller in an opinion piece in Süddeutsche Zeitung. “In the CDU/CSU the economic wing has the say, in the SPD the union camp. The intersection of both is the opposite of environmental and climate protection.” Merkel “lacks the strength to also fight for more climate protection”, and her government has stepped on the brakes regarding European efforts for stricter targets on greenhouse gas emissions. Shortly after the US decided to leave the Paris Agreement, “Europe’s most important industrial country” is now also missing as a driving force in international climate action, writes Bauchmüller. The grand coalition “holds back progress away from coal, oil and gas. […] Among the consequences, the collapse of Germany as a business location could be one of the more harmless”.

Read the opinion piece in German here.

For background, read the CLEW article First 100 days - German government in disarray neglects energy policy and the dossier The energy transition and climate change.