Robert Habeck's “carbon footprint” reflects the “immediate program” that the Greens announced during the election campaign and that the traffic light parties wrote in the coalition agreement after the election.
It mixes long plans with what is absolutely necessary.
The end of the surcharge in the Renewable Energy Sources Act, which has proven to be a block on the leg of investments, but above all of the price of electricity, has long been planned. Absolutely necessary, at least under the conditions chosen by German politics, is the gigantic expansion of renewable energies and the infrastructure for the electrification of road traffic. All three projects do not make the energy industry cheaper, but rather a matter for the state, i.e. for the taxpayer.
What is new about the economics minister's announcements, however, is that even the greatest efforts could not lead to the goals of German climate policy being achieved in this and the next electoral term. It is true that the coalition still has the declared intention of catching up on the backlog that it is accusing the grand coalition of. But Habeck has already secured several times that the targets could still be broken even in 2030. Bit by bit, the red-green-yellow departure is moving away from the claim to be the last resort for Germany.
There are reasons for backing out.
The German slowness was not only due to the SPD and CDU / CSU.
In addition, the full extent of the traffic light planning might not be enough to deliver the amounts of energy that your grand tour de luxe needs in terms of climate neutrality.
If it turns out that other countries achieve the goals that Germany is missing more quickly and cheaply, despite all the burdens and efforts, it is time to think about the meaning of this policy.
Because it is already the case that our neighbors are mastering European climate targets without leading their citizens into an uncertain future.