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“Last Generation” protest in March 2024 in Berlin
Photo: Omer Messinger / Getty Images
At the weekend, the change in strategy of the previously quite radical climate activists became apparent for the first time.
Softer forms of protest should bring new approval.
“Last generation light,” said SPIEGEL, “chalk instead of glue.”
And even if no one here believes me, I have respect for something like that because it at least proves that someone is able to reflect on their own actions and draw conclusions from them.
This cannot be said about almost the entire climate protection association lobby, on the contrary.
When the German climate balance was presented last week, one thing could be seen more clearly in the reactions - printed, blown, stubborn - than it has been for a long time: the professional climate protectors are trembling in fear of their anti-capitalism and their contempt for citizens.
A few days ago, the Federal Environment Agency announced: Germany has once again achieved its national climate target in 2023.
Overall, more CO₂ (ten percent) has been reduced than in any year since 1990. The country is therefore sustainably on the desired path until 2030. It is quite possible that the 2030 target will even be exceeded.
Point.
I consider the Federal Environment Agency to be credible in this matter.
One of his street credentials is classifying housing construction subsidies as “climate-damaging” subsidies.
You can't be much harder than that.
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While the Minister of Economic Affairs was justifiably happy and a little proud, relevant experts and association representatives took measures.
They did with the numbers that they couldn't dispute what the AfD usually does with numbers that don't suit it: They looked for reasons why they weren't worth anything.
Reasons why, unlike the last generation, there is no need to reconsider one's own position or previous statements.
That's not entirely new.
I have also written about the terror that good news can spread in the minds of climate activists.
But this time it crossed the line into intellectual self-mutilation.
In the "SZ", a climate expert from the WWF, in her need to explain, summarily and completely denied German industry's "will to transformation".
The obvious CO2 reduction in this area is instead due to “political and economic crises,” which is why “any joy quickly gets stuck in her throat.”
This borders on a conspiracy theory: the expert ignores both the billions in transformation investments by the state and companies as well as the politically accelerated increase in energy prices via the CO2 price, for example.
As a result, certain productions are becoming so cost-intensive that they are no longer profitable in their old form in Germany.
One can complain about that, but this reduction is intentional; it is certainly not an economic coincidence or a temporary CO2 windfall.
And in the event that German growth accelerates again in the near future: it has long been decoupled from a simultaneous increase in CO2 emissions.
How much do you have to hate the free market that you don't want to admit that it does manifestly good things when it comes to climate protection?
What else do you want?
“The majority of the decline in emissions was due to the crisis and is therefore not guaranteed in the long term,” explained the influential Agora Energy Transition Institute.
This also applies to emissions in the electricity sector.
In reality, Germany produced significantly less coal-fired electricity - unexpectedly by the experts - because for the first time much more green and cheap electricity was imported from abroad.
One could therefore say: The large European market for electricity works, it shuts down the German CO2 producers through the price, that is also intentional and great.
But for some associations, any solution that is not German-nationally sustainable seems suspect.
In order to maintain this criticism, these groups must de facto assume that the EU is breaking up.
How is AfD?
Luckily for the lobby, it has to be said, at least the transport sector has only achieved around 90 percent of its reduction target.
A Greenpeace board member therefore demanded that the government use the “breather” of the overall good figures to quickly sharpen this point.
That's what I meant at the beginning when I said contempt for citizens: people moan about the high fuel and energy prices, they limit themselves, they heat and buy less and what not.
But all they get from the high gentlemen if they have measurable success - is not praise, not recognition, but a driving ban during the "breather".
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Incidentally, some experts did not accept the fact that people heated less because of the mild winter.
I assume because the temperatures could be related to climate change.
Because there is one thing that no climate protection lobbyist can bring himself to do: to admit that, paradoxically, global warming might also have some good things in certain places.
Only the millions of people who have to worry about their heating bills see it that way.
All that remains is a look into the future, but even that didn't want to be really black last week.
According to the “projection report” from the Federal Environment Agency, Germany is on the way to the goal with its current policy, even if I myself am a bit skeptical about such projections.
If I remember correctly, it was said just a year ago that Germany would fall far, far short of the target, namely by a fifth of the required reduction amount.
No malice for the mistake, but in my opinion it wouldn't be asking too much for the assembled lobby experts to show a little forbearance, perhaps even a little bit of humility, in the face of such differences.
But who am I to wish that?