Climate club instead of budget crisis: Scholz at the climate conference

COP28 - Climate club instead of budget crisis: Scholz at the climate conference

There are actually important things for the Federal Chancellor to sort out at home. The 2024 federal budget has fallen through Olaf Scholz 's ears due to a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court. Together with Finance Minister Christian Lindner and Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck, he now has to scrape together 17 billion euros as quickly as possible to plug the hole. Nevertheless, Scholz does not want to miss the climate conference with heads of state and government from 170 countries.

In the early morning, shortly after 7 a.m., he takes off for Dubai, where the so-called COP28 is taking place this year - with a record number of around 97,000 participants. The evening before, he spent late into the evening discussing the budget plans with Lindner (FDP) and Habeck (Greens) in the Chancellery. To be continued - after his return at the weekend.

Shortened stay

Scholz shortened his stay in Dubai by around eight to 20 hours due to the budget crisis. However, he did not want to miss out completely. The most important point for him in Dubai: the Climate Club. Scholz founded it a year and a half ago at the G7 summit in Elmau, Bavaria, as a group of particularly ambitious countries in the fight against climate change. In the afternoon, he declared the loose association of 35 countries and the EU to be fully operational: "Now we can get started!" he said.

The common goal is to restructure industrial processes in a greenhouse-neutral way and to decouple economic growth from climate-damaging emissions. The problem is that some of the biggest producers of climate-damaging greenhouse gases are not members of the club: China, Russia, India and Brazil.

The day before, Germany had received a lot of praise because, together with the host country, it pledged 100 million US dollars each for a new fund to compensate for climate damage in poor countries. It was like a starting signal, and further pledges followed.

Where does Germany stand on climate protection?

Germany has long been a "good guy" when it comes to international climate protection, according to the delegation in Dubai, known as COP28 in UN jargon, and not without pride. But how is Germany itself doing on climate protection? The assessment could be summarized as follows: There are many gaps and construction sites, but globally, a great many countries are doing worse. Specifically:

According to the Federal Environment Agency, around 746 million tons of climate-damaging greenhouse gases were released in Germany last year - 40.4 percent less than in 1990. However, according to the Climate Protection Act, the figures must be reduced by a whopping 65 percent by 2030, and climate neutrality must be achieved by 2045 at the latest. This will require a rapid increase in pace, with emissions falling by around six percent every year. However, Germany has not even achieved an average of two percent since 2010.

Things are going particularly badly in road traffic. It is the only sector that actually emitted more greenhouse gases in 2022 compared to the previous year - despite high fuel prices and 9-euro tickets. No wonder: despite all the alarm calls, the number of cars in Germany continues to rise. There are currently 48.8 million cars - and only one in 50 of them is an electric car.

Carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants in Germany have also risen sharply recently - an indirect consequence of high gas prices and the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine. A massive amount of energy also had to be exported, particularly to France, where half of all nuclear power plants were offline for repairs.

Internationally, many are much worse

Germany is therefore making progress on climate protection, albeit far too slowly. However, this does not put Germany in a bad position in an international comparison - because many countries are doing much less. This is because 139 countries worldwide are currently emitting even more greenhouse gases than in 2005 - some even twice as much, as the NewClimate Institute has determined. One negative example is China: in 2005, the People's Republic released 5.8 billion tons of CO2, but by 2021 this figure had risen to 11.5 billion - a good 30 percent of all emissions worldwide. In terms of per capita emissions, China is now on a par with Germany - but still far behind countries such as the USA, Australia, Canada and Russia.

Climate expert Niclas Höhne from the New Climate Institute concluded in mid-November that there was no sign of a radical global turnaround. He based his assessment on new UN calculations: Even if all climate protection promises are kept - which many doubt - emissions in 2030 are likely to be only two percent below 2019 levels. In order to reach the 1.5 degree target for global warming, however, they would have to halve by then.

German performance "unsatisfactory" overall

The NewClimate Institute also regularly publishes the highly regarded "Climate Action Tracker" analysis tool, which regularly assesses the climate policy of more than 40 countries. Despite some progress, the experts rate Germany's performance as "unsatisfactory" overall: it appears that the German government has abandoned its own climate protection target for 2030. For example, it is inappropriate that Germany is not implementing even simple measures such as a general speed limit on freeways. At the end of August, a Federal Government projection report coordinated by the Federal Environment Agency also revealed that the climate targets for 2030 and 2045 are "at risk" without additional measures - which does not really fit in with the government's self-praise.

The Climate Action Tracker emphasizes positively, also in an international comparison, that the German government has systematically removed obstacles to the expansion of renewable energies. In the case of solar energy, it is therefore on track to exceed its own expansion targets, but not yet in the case of wind energy.

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1. Olaf Scholz, despite the budget crisis and the ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court, ensured his participation in the COP28 climate conference in Dubai.
2. The Federal Constitutional Court's ruling forced Scholz, Lindner, and Habeck to gather 17 billion euros swiftly to mend the budget hole.
3. At the Dubai conference, Scholz prioritized the 'Climate Club,' an initiative he founded at the G7 summit in Elmau, Germany, with 35 countries and the EU.
4. Absent from the Climate Club are significant greenhouse gas emitters such as China, Russia, India, and Brazil.
5. Germany, in collaboration with the host country, pledged 100 million US dollars each for a newly established fund to compensate for climate damages in impoverished nations.
6. Scholz highlighted the Climate Club's operational status amidst the COP28 conference, expressing enthusiasm for starting the decarbonization process.
7. As per the Federal Environment Agency, Germany released around 746 million tons of greenhouse gases in 2022, albeit significantly lower than 1990 levels.
8. However, Germany had aims of reducing emissions by 65% by 2030 and achieving neutrality by 2045 at the latest, a significant pace increase required.
9. Previous data showed that the German emissions decrease has been insufficient, with an average of two percent since 2010 and far behind many global countries.
10. Germany's carbon dioxide emission from coal-fired power plants and transportation has increased, stalling progress in climate protection despite high costs and high fuel prices.

Source: www.stern.de