Germany’s Green New Deal Doesn’t Do Much for the Climate

The German government’s 54 billion-euro ($60 billion) climate deal, approved after about 20 hours of overnight negotiations on Friday, is a typical product of the reluctant coalition run by Chancellor Angela Merkel: It achieves a balance of interests and little more. If German voters want a more ambitious plan, and there are indications that they do, they’ll have to wait until after the 2021 election.

The package is an exercise in evenhandedness. It’s neutral from the budgetary point of view, meaning the government isn’t sacrificing its balanced budget for the sake of reducing emissions. It makes fossil fuels more expensive, but it does so slowly, and counterbalances the rising costs with promised cuts to other energy-related levies, such as grid fees and a renewable energy subsidy, and with incentives to take trains and buy electric cars. It also promises government investment in expanding the charging network for electric cars, and avoids burdening automakers with additional costs. One can see that center-right and center-left politicians had a hand in drafting the 22-page position paper that emerged from the talks – and that the Greens, Germany’s second-most-popular party but not a member of the governing coalition, weren’t there.