After three days of deliberations, the traffic light coalition unveiled a comprehensive package of measures to implement climate protection targets and accelerate planning in Germany on Tuesday night. On the one hand, road and rail network planning must be massively accelerated, said party leaders from the SPD, Verdes and FDP. On the other hand, according to Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP), nature conservation is being fundamentally reformed.
According to SPD chairman Lars Klingbeil, the parliamentary groups also agreed on a social balance by switching from gas and oil heating to more environmentally friendly heating. According to Lindner, traffic light decisions don’t have a big impact on the budget. Heating conversion costs would be taken from the climate and transformation fund. Green leader Ricarda Lang spoke about a massive rail expansion and a solar energy program for highways. The truck toll will be increased from 2024 onwards, and 80 percent of that will go towards rail expansion.
More speed at electronic charging stations
An important element of the agreement is the change in the climate protection law. “We are going beyond the purely sectoral orientation,” said FDP leader Lindner, particularly in view of the faltering reduction of CO2 emissions in the transport sector. “We guarantee that the sectors can help each other.” The targets are no longer looked at annually and they no longer look back, but forward, around 2030. The leader of the Green Party, Lang, emphasized, however, that the sectoral targets were maintained as a principle of the law. In the future, it should also be possible to make cash payments for building measures rather than providing replacement areas, Lindner explained.
The traffic light coalition also wants to speed up the installation of electronic charging stations. According to the coalition committee document, gas station operators should be legally required to “build at least one fast charging point per gas station within five years”. However, there will be a special regulation for small gas station operators.
Traffic light admits differences – and out
Lang and Klingbeil recognized significant differences in the traffic light coalition in recent weeks. The leader of the Greens discovered that the three parties were so different that they ended up negotiating compromises for society as a whole. Like Klingbeil, she criticized the harsh tone of the three parts. “I never had any concerns about the reliability of the partners,” Lindner said at the end of the joint press conference.
Some of the disagreements stemmed from the dispute over whether accelerated planning should only apply to rail projects or also road projects. Lindner spoke of 144 road projects for which planning must now also be accelerated. Lang referred to the necessary combination with solar systems along the highway.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz had previously reported “very, very, very good results”. “I’m very, very confident that we can produce great work,” said the SPD politician. Now it’s important that, as the world’s fourth largest economy, you do everything right. It is about accelerating the pace of decisions. “So the effort makes sense. It will have been worth it,” he said. (road)