Yeah sure, lets call climate and ask it to hold off for another 5 years.

I really think that those businesses want to delay everything until after the federal election of 2029 will give CDU & AfD a majority. They will then proceed to kill every climate target available and we will all die in a heatwave.

35 years ago: We should do something about climate change but it’s important to see first how to do it without any effects on industry and economy.

25 years ago: We should really do something about climate change but let’s evaluate the option again, or their might be an effect on the economy.

15 years ago: We now know that we don’t need actually so anything. Just set climate goals, establish CO₂ trading and let the wonderful free market work its magic.

5 years ago: We should actually really increase CO₂ costs to more realistic levels but then our rich donors could feel offended so let’s keep those plans with unrealistical steep increases much too late.

Now: We really need to scrap the cimate targets as CO₂ trading is finally beginning to have an effect (who would have thought?) and our stalwart rejection of any actual technology/industry not dependent on obsolete fossil fuel burning means negative effects for the economy.

10 years from now: We really, really tried (trust us… we did totally not fuck you over for benefits from our friends in the fossil fuel industry…) but seemingly action against climate change is simply impossible so let’s stop trying.

PS: Also let’s never talk about businesses/economy/industry that invested in a green transition, constantly criticise this insane flip-flopping, and gets also fucked over all the time. That’s not the story we should hear, so the media makes sure we won’t.

Germany should instead use its power to make the EU align with the earlier timeline. And, aiming for the earlier timeline provides more business opportunities- see China.

Why not? It’s not like 5 years of greenhouse gass really causes that much problems /s

Instead of 2045, Germany should adopt the European target year of 2050 … Germany’s current special path of aiming to become climate-neutral five years earlier than the European Union makes the country more expensive as a business location without achieving any additional climate impact.

It would be better if the world would move toward the German goal rather than the other way around.

But the world doesn’t seem to want that, particularly the world’s biggest emitters: the U.S. seems to quit any emissions reductions at all, and China aims to reach carbon neutrality in 2060, ten years later than the EU (yet China is hailed as the global leader in climate change actions).

The world isn’t on a good path, but I somehow feel Germany isn’t the biggest problem here.