Climate target for Germany: Industry and unions are pushing for a new climate target

Representatives from business, trade unions and politics are calling for the German target year for climate neutrality to be postponed by five years. Instead of 2045, Germany should adopt the European target year of 2050, said, among others, the head of the Mining, Chemical and Energy Industrial Union (IGBCE), Michael Vassiliadis, and RWE CEO Markus Krebber World on Sunday.

Krebber sees an opportunity to ease the burden on German industry by adjusting the target date. The previous German special approach of wanting to become climate neutral five years earlier than that EUmakes the location more expensive without achieving any additional climate impact, he said. The German climate target should therefore be “aligned with the European target,” demanded the RWE boss.

“We want less CO₂, not less industry”

In a position paper, the IGBCE also advocates adapting the reduction path in European emissions trading to the EU climate target for 2050. This would give industry more time to reduce its CO₂ emissions. Otherwise, the union warns of rising costs and competitive disadvantages.

The chairwoman of the CDU medium-sized business association MIT, Gitta Connemann, spoke out in favor of a more “realistic” schedule: “We want less CO₂, not less industry, so emissions trading must fit reality.”

European emissions trading is the EU’s central climate protection instrument on the way to climate neutrality. Companies must provide emission certificates for their CO₂ emissions that can be traded. As the number of certificates gradually decreases, their value increases – an incentive, especially for energy-intensive industries, to save greenhouse gases. The EU Commission wants to present proposals for a reform of emissions trading in July.