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It wasn't long ago that former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder had publicly warned his SPD not to be “greener than the Greens”.
And now it is not just the Social Democrats who want to be as green as possible after the key points for a new climate protection law have been presented by Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz and Environment Minister Svenja Schulze.
But also the CDU and CSU.
After the judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court, which had ruled parts of the previous climate package as unconstitutional, everyone is now outbidding each other with proposals for a stricter climate policy.
Suddenly the entire black-red coalition looks green.
Last week, the Karlsruhe judges criticized the fact that the Climate Protection Act had only made specific rules to reduce greenhouse gas emissions up to 2030 and not for periods thereafter.
The court gave the legislature the task of making improvements by the end of 2022.
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But nobody wants to wait for that. According to the coalition factions, nobody could afford an “open flank” in climate policy in the federal election campaign. One remembers with horror the YouTuber Rezo, who dismantled the climate policy of the grand coalition in the middle of the European election campaign in 2019. Going out of the legislative period without ambition would be a great start for the Greens and climate activists.
On Wednesday, the federal government announced specific goals for a new climate protection law.
The plans include a climate-neutral Germany by 2045, a greenhouse gas reduction of 65 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 and new climate targets after 2030. Previously, Federal Environment Minister Schulze and Chancellor candidate Scholz had already outlined key points.
They tie in with plans that the Social Democrats have had in their drawer for a long time.
"Will be in the cabinet next week with an ambitious climate protection law"
The federal government wants to significantly increase its climate targets.
Finance Minister Scholz is drawing conclusions from the ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court, which last week called for changes to the Climate Protection Act.
Source: WORLD
Suddenly nobody can go too fast - as if everyone had just been waiting for the scolding from Karlsruhe.
The CDU chairman Armin Laschet demanded that the climate protection law “be decided quickly”, while CSU boss Markus Söder would like it to be “significantly more ambitious”.
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So everyone agrees on the goals.
It is unclear, however, whether we will be able to agree on specific measures - or whether this will be outsourced to the next coalition.
The explosive lies in the detail.
Everyone is currently rushing forward with new ideas.
Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU), for example.
This is how Scheuer's “climate bonus” should work
Scheuer, often referred to by critics as the “car minister” and a constant thorn in the side of environmental associations, has prepared a whole bunch of measures to meet the so-called sector goals, i.e. the requirements for CO2 savings in transport for which his ministry is responsible , to reach.
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“Setting rigid goals for each year does not guarantee that they will be achieved.
Setting more ambitious goals for climate protection is correct, but not enough.
We now have to determine how we can achieve these goals and which instruments we need for them, ”said Scheuer WELT.
"I am specifically proposing a tax climate bonus that works in a similar way to the craftsman bonus," said Scheuer.
If citizens buy particularly climate-friendly means of transport such as bicycles or e-bikes or pay attention to climate protection when traveling, 20 percent of the expenses up to an amount of 1000 euros per taxpayer should be deducted from income tax.
Families should also be given greater consideration: the child allowance should be increased by 500 euros for each child.
“We have to support climate-friendly behavior.” Scholz, as finance minister, and the environment ministry should be ready “to go along with the ministries' measures without any ifs or buts and not to stick to the small ones”.
"And Ms. Baerbock must ensure that the Greens no longer constantly block when it comes to the concrete implementation of rail projects and the digital infrastructure on site," said Scheuer.
Environmental groups, the Greens, but also the SPD rub their eyes in amazement at the Union's commitment to the climate.
In the SPD-led Environment Ministry, the coalition partner's flood of ideas is now even being slowed down.
It is "nice that we are no longer discussing whether we are doing more climate protection, but just how," it says there.
But it is unlikely that this federal government will "launch completely new packages of measures" before the election.
What the Social Democrats are up to
In the SPD parliamentary group, however, they are pushing for completely different measures: “The expansion of renewable energies will be decisive for the success of all climate protection measures. And on this point, the Union has blocked all along the line, ”says Matthias Miersch, deputy group leader. “First of all, Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier. We have absolutely no consensus with the CDU and CSU. "
It starts with the distance rules for wind turbines, goes through the participation of municipalities in solar parks or the solar obligation to the question of how much electricity from renewable energies will actually be needed in 2030.
"I am somewhat surprised to see that the Union is suddenly moving and that the CDU in particular has apparently discovered climate protection for itself in its most recent presidium meeting," said Miersch.
"The CDU has to be measured by deeds, and we can still achieve a lot there."
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The first parliamentary manager of the SPD parliamentary group, Carsten Schneider, also railed sharply against the coalition partner.
What the Union and especially Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU) are doing is "snotty".
The minister had made "a lot of cinnabar" in the past few years, but failed to manage the expansion of power lines and "always slowed it down with solar and wind power."
Schneider also poisoned against CSU boss Söder.
The fact that he is now giving the environmentalist is "satire".
No federal state has “pushed” the distance rules for wind turbines so much as Bavaria.
The expansion has largely come to a standstill as a result.
Image cultivation: Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) as "tree hugger"
Source: pa / dpa / Peter Kneffel
The SPD, in turn, has to put up with the accusation that it did not enforce a higher CO2 price in the 2019 Climate Protection Act.
It is true that the Social Democrats could have imagined a higher entry price than the initially agreed ten euros per tonne.
At the same time, however, they also warned against a division in society.
An argument that is now on the table again.
A price is a "radical market solution", explained Schneider.
People with low incomes in particular would suffer from it.
Namely, if they had to spend more money on gasoline.
Unlike high earners, they could not buy an electric car in a hurry - or renovate the old climate-unfriendly heating system.
Proposals are now circulating in the Union faction to do just that.
An increase in the CO2 price is under discussion, but this should be offset by a reduction in electricity prices.
There are also proposals to expand renewable energies, for example with solar systems.
Negotiations with the SPD are expected soon.
"It is of course not about a finished master plan by 2045," says Union parliamentary group vice Andreas Jung (CDU) WELT.
"But everything that is still possible now, we should get on the way."