The German Greens are preparing to take part in the next government and have presented their radical plans to combat the climate crisis, which they have described as the “task of the century”, according to party co-chair Annalena Baerbock.
Baerbock discussed the largest climate package the country has ever seen. At stake are, for example, the establishment of a kind of ideological surveillance, that being a special ministry for climate protection which would be able to oppose anti-climate proposals.
In addition, the party wants to take the path of redistribution as it intends, for example, to increase the minimum wage for low-income people who will be most affected by the green transformation, Die Welt reported.
According to Baerbock and another Green Co-chairman, Robert Habeck, the new ministry would have a veto power which would allow the office to prevent any laws that would not be in line with the Paris Agreement and climate protection.
“More than five years ago, Germany pledged to do everything in its power to bring the climate crisis under control and global warming not to exceed one and a half degrees. However, we will only achieve great goals if we also do something for them,“ the leaders of the Greens justified their efforts.
Baerbock then criticized the German federal government, which she said did not take climate protection seriously because it was not doing anything for it. The whole of the European Union has the same approach, according to Baerbock.
However, the European Commission recently presented a revolutionary New Green Deal climate plan, which includes, for example, the end of production of petrol and diesel cars, charging for emissions from transport or heating buildings, and increasing the share of renewables in energy consumption.
The Greens would like to significantly accelerate the expansion of renewable wind and solar energy. They plan to enforce the gradual decommissioning of coal from the energy sector by 2030. According to the program, large investments in railway transport, public transport, and cycling are also planned.
“We need more green and cheap electricity as soon as possible to reduce climate-damaging emissions, especially in the transport, industry, and heating sectors,” Baerbock said.
The Greens also want to create a special working group after the formation of the new government, which would discuss in a weekly basis the coordination of the climate efforts of individual ministries, in order to speed up the government’s approval process as much as possible.
Given that the green transformation will have the greatest impact on socially weaker households, the Greens want to set up a special fund for “everyone who finds the path to carbon neutrality not financially easy to manage”. People should use the money to buy heat pumps or cars without an internal combustion engine.
At the beginning of the year, the Greens jumped to first place in the pre-election polls and were already claiming the office of chancellor. In recent months, however, they have been behind the ruling Christian Democrats. The latest survey gives the CDU / CSU 26 percent and the Greens 20 percent. Elections to the Bundestag are to take place in Germany on September 26.
Title image: Co-leader of Germany’s Green party and top candidate for the upcoming national election Annalena Baerbock reacts during a press conference on the follow-up of the flood disaster, on Monday, July 26, 2021 at the house of the Federal Press Conference in Berlin. (Stefanie Loos/Pool Photo via AP)
