Germany brings forward zero emissions target by five years

GERMANY has announced ambitious new targets to cut net CO2 emissions to zero by 2045, five years earlier than previously planned.

The change by Angela Merkel’s government was prompted by a German constitutional court ruling that previous targets were not ambitious enough and imposed an unreasonable burden on future generations.

It also comes as the Green Party continues to lead in the polls ahead of elections later this year.

“Young people have reminded us that we are going too slowly,” Mrs Merkel said. “The court has told us there are not only freedoms for the generations alive today, we must also think about freedoms of future generations.

“This is a new legal perspective that could have many consequences and impresses upon us that we must do more,” she added.

Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and her centre-left coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD), are eager to burnish their climate credentials ahead of September’s elections.

On current polling figures, the Green Party is on course to win the chancellery for the first time.

Under the new targets announced,

Germany will aim to reduce its CO2 emissions by 65 per cent from 1990 levels by 2030, instead of the previous target of 55 per cent.

It will aim to reduce them by 88 per cent by 2040 and 100 per cent by 2045.

Svenja Schulze, the environment minister, described the new targets as a

“a fair offer to younger generations” who will no longer have to “carry the heaviest burden”.

Ms Schulze told a press conference yesterday: “The constitutional court ruling has put wind in the sails of climate protection.

“The debate is no longer about whether we should do something, it is about who has the best ideas.”

The new emissions targets will have to be approved by Mrs Merkel’s cabinet at a meeting next week, before being put to parliament.

“We want to make our goals more precise,” Olaf Scholz, the vice-chancellor and SPD leader said, adding that there was agreement within the coalition about the new targets.

The Bild newspaper warned that the new targets could leave Germans facing higher prices for fuel and heating.

Germany already operates carbon emissions pricing, and the Greens are calling for it to be raised from €25 (£22) to €60 (£52) per tonne.