Germany: Sharp Debate Between NGOs and Business on Climate Agenda
European climate change rules “prevent the German economy from growing or even recovering from the crisis”
There are those who accuse Germany of imitating the fight against climate change. In Germany, there are those who loudly denounce the European Union’s climate protection programs as a major danger to the country’s economic development.
According to a study prepared by the German branch of the Bertelsmann Foundation, a non-profit non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C., USA, Germany is very “late” compared to other European countries in terms of climate protection efforts in the energy, transport, and construction sectors.
“Denmark and Norway demonstrate that it is fundamentally possible to achieve full decarbonization by mid-century. In contrast, Germany and even the UK are not yet on track to complete the transition to clean electricity, heating, and road transport on time,” experts from the Bertelsmann Foundation wrote in an online report published on October 1, 2024.
“From comparisons between European countries, it appears that in every sector – heating, road transport, and electricity – there is at least one state that has made great progress towards emission-free supply. Thus, decarbonization by 2050 is possible if policy goals, regulations, and infrastructure changes are better coordinated,” emphasized Christoph Schiller and Thorsten Hellmann, authors of the study.
German business, on the other hand, is raising its voice against “absurd demands to reduce CO2 emissions.” German industry leaders have denounced increasingly stringent climate protection rules that are halting the country’s economic growth and are not letting the country out of the crisis. The German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) and the Association of Municipal Enterprises (VKU) have called greenhouse gas reduction targets “absurd.” “These absurd targets are impossible to achieve, they increase costs, and the situation will get worse if the European Union tightens them even further,” DIHK CEO Achim Dercks (pictured) said during a press conference. “The formulation of more and higher climate targets is leading to deep uncertainty across the economy,” the DIHK CEO added.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) forecasts that the German economy will grow by 0.1 percent in 2024. As for inflation, according to Eurostat’s preliminary estimate, annual inflation in the eurozone is expected to be 1.8% in September, down from 2.2% in August. Among the largest economies, Italy should show 0.8% (1.2% in August), Germany 1.8% (2% in August), France 1.5% (2.0% in August), and Spain 1.7% (2.4% in August).
