Climate Crisis | Germany further cuts its emissions to 65% by 2030 while Spain stays at 23%

The first economy in the European Union announced its intention to increase its plans to increase the percentage of emission reductions in 2030 compared to 1990 levels. It will now move from 55% to 65%, to reach climate neutrality in 2045 instead of 2050, a decision praised by the constituent organizations To the climate movement.

However, Spain is not moving in the 23% moment agreed upon in the Committee on Environmental Transformation and the Demographic Challenge of Congress, as the House of Representatives has given the green light to the Climate Change and Energy Transition Act that has already been approved in the Senate and that it will now return to Congress for final processing.

The main statement

Merkel responded this week to the ruling of the German Federal Constitutional Court on April 28, in which judges ruled that existing laws directly violate the fundamental freedoms and rights of citizens with regard to insufficient protection of the climate. The court also indicated that the government should adapt the Federal Climate Protection Act, which it has declared partially unconstitutional, for this purpose by the end of 2022.

For its part, Spain does not appear to be increasing its climate ambition. “As the fourth largest economy in the European Union, it must match its climate ambitions with what the science demands, before courts compel to do so,” they said from Greenpeace on Friday. Environmentalists at Work, Greenpeace and Oxfam Intermón have filed a complaint with the Supreme Court against the government of Pedro Sanchez for failing to fulfill its obligations regarding action to stop the climate emergency.

The three groups made it clear in September 2020, when the complaint was filed, that the efforts raised were “insufficient to compensate for the lack of action by previous governments.” The top agreed to the treatment In October, which means the official opening of an unprecedented operation in the Spanish state.

In addition to inadequate goals, for ecologists at work, the law, as it is written, “does not specify measures in key sectors in decarbonizing”, so the Federation of Ecologists is demanding that the government increase the climate ambition of the said law before it ends. Parliamentary action.

Protect life

José Luis Garcia, head of the climate change region at Greenpeace, noted Friday that “the precedents of Germany, France, the Netherlands or Ireland, to name a few, clearly show that courts compel governments to put protection for people’s lives ahead of the economic interests of fossil fuels. “.

Despite Germany’s step forward, environmental organizations say the effort remains insufficient. “Greenpeace does not see that the response of the German government is still sufficient to meet the demands of the ruling, but it is clear that it is forced to take an important step in the direction of the Paris Agreement that should drag other European countries. Such as Spain,” sources point from the non-governmental organization.

For the group, Germany must commit to reducing emissions by at least 70% by 2030 compared to 1990, and Spain must reduce emissions by at least 55%, with all European countries achieving climate neutrality no later than 2040.