German parliament approves climate protection plan
November 15, 2019
Germany's parliament voted on Friday to formally accept most of a climate protection packet. The legislation aims to cut Germany's greenhouse gas emissions to 55% of the 1990 levels by 2030.
Image: Reuters/M. Tantussi
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German lawmakers voted to enshrine climate protection in law on Friday.
The new legislation will target sectors like energy, transport and housing. It aims to cut Germany's greenhouse gas emissions to 55% of the 1990 levels by 2030. Parts of the so-called "climate packet" still need approval.
"Every minister who doesn't stick to the goals will have to explain themselves to this chamber," said SPD lawmaker Matthias Miersch in parliament. The law will set goals in each government department to reduce CO2 emissions.
Incentives will also be introduced for businesses and agencies who operate in an environmentally friendly way.
This could mean that flying will become more expensive, while trains will become cheaper in Germany. A CO2 traffic charge will be introduced as well as charges on businesses that produce a large amount of CO2.
The legislation will cost around €54 billion ($59.5 billion) by 2023, in part financed by these charges.
From temperature increases to predictions of sea level rise, Germany's seas and coastal communities are facing changes that require pre-emptive action.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H. Marschall
Keeping the coast safe
At the moment, water levels in Germany's North and Baltic Seas are not rising any faster than usual, but scientists say the process is likely to speed up in the coming decades. Exactly when, and by how much, is uncertain. And that complicates the work of coastal defense authorities.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/I. Wagner
Feat of engineering
Over the centuries, the hundreds of kilometers of dikes along Germany's coastline have become higher and more sophisticated. The latest incarnations are called "climate dikes" and are especially designed to be able to hold back higher waters brought about by warming temperatures and rising sea levels.
Image: DW/Tamsin Walker
Houses on tiny hills
One time-honored way populations under threat from higher sea levels have sought to secure themselves, has been to build their homes on small mounds. On the so-called Hallig islands, it is not uncommon for these embankments to be all that is left above water during a storm surge.
Image: WWF/H.-U. Rösner
Cod off to cooler waters
Unlike sea-level rise, an increase in temperatures in Germany's North and Baltic Seas is already palpable. Scientists say both bodies of water are around 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than in the 1960s. This shift in conditions has had an impact on several species, including cod, which have begun to migrate north in search of the cold in which they thrive.
Image: by-nc-sa/Joachim S. Müller
Heading for the heat
At the other end of the scale, anchovies are increasingly making a home for themselves in the North Sea off Germany. The species is usually found in more southerly climes, but the warming temperatures are attracting them to new waters.
Image: Imago/blickwinkel
Mud flats in danger
The Wadden Sea UNESCO World Heritage Site is also at risk from the predicted sea-level rise. It serves as a resting place for millions of migratory birds traveling between the Arctic and warmer regions to the south. Because it is so rich in food, the birds stop there for several weeks at a time to build up fat and energy reserves for their onward journeys.
Image: WWF/H.-U. Rösner
Life in the salt marsh
While few plant species can survive the salty waters that regularly flood the marshes between the Wadden Sea and the dikes, the environment is alive with tiny insect species and birds that nest at ground level.
Image: DW/Tamsin Walker
Drowning dinner
If the sea level were to rise too quickly, the Wadden Sea's characteristic mud flats would no longer be exposed at low tide. That would have huge implications, not only for the birds that rely on the ecosystem for food, but for the ecosystem itself.
Image: WWF/H.-U. Rösner
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Who supports the law?
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party and their coalition partner the center-left SPD faced opposition across the board from other major parties.
Merkel admitted that a previously-abandoned emissions target in 2020 may have hurt her coalition's credibility on climate change policy.
"If too much carbon dioxide is emitted we have to take immediate measures to reach our 2030 goals," she told reporters after the vote.
But other parties are skeptical. Anton Hofreiter, the parliamentary leader of the Green party, described the move as "another bad day for climate protection," saying that under the current government real climate protection would be impossible.
The business-friendly Free Democrats spokesman accused the CDU of "climate hysteria." They claim that the new law will be expensive for ordinary German citizens.
As things stand, Germany is lagging behind its current goals, having only achieved 30% of the target it hopes to achieve by 2030.
