German climate policy insufficient, court rules

German Autobahn

The legal consequences of government climate obsession rumble on, as countries keep insisting that their ‘targets’ will somehow make the weather nicer, or something. Some pressure groups want lower speed limits but with a future of (supposedly) EVs that seems fairly pointless.
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The German government must present emergency programmes to improve its climate policy in the transport and buildings sector, a Berlin court ruled on Thursday (30 November), after the country repeatedly failed to meet emission reduction targets, reports Euractiv.

The higher administrative court of Berlin-Brandenburg ruled that the German government must present immediate action programmes to reach the emission reduction targets in the transport and buildings sector, as written in the German climate law.

The ruling follows a lawsuit by environmental NGOs Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) and Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND), who called it a “groundbreaking” decision.

The ruling can however be contested at the highest instance, the Federal Administrative Court.

“With the World Climate Conference starting today, the German government must send out a signal in favour of a fresh start in climate protection,” Jürgen Resch, CEO of DUH, said in a statement.

As one potential measure for the immediate action programme, the NGO would like to see a general speed limit on motorways implemented, something that Germany so far does not have, unlike all other European countries.

A speed limit of 100 km/h on motorways, 80 km/h outside urban areas and 30 km/h in cities “would save over 11 million tonnes of CO2 per year and thus a third of the shortfall in the transport sector”, Resch said.

Additionally, the green campaigners would like to see rules providing favourable taxation for company cars slashed, something that they say incentivises large and emissions-intensive cars.

Climate law reform
The ruling comes at a time when the German government has proposed changes to the climate law that would see sectoral targets given up in favour of an overarching approach.

The reform, a pet project by the pro-market FDP party (Renew), would allow missed emissions reductions in difficult sectors such as transport to be outweighed by an overfulfilment in other sectors, such as electricity generation. It is fiercely criticised by environmental organisations, who fear that accountability would be weakened.
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The missed targets could also imperil the EU’s planned introduction of an emissions trading system for buildings and road transport (ETS2) as of 2027.

Full article here.