A step forward in the fight against the climate crisis: The Bundestag passes a new climate adaptation law. But how is it financed?
The Bundestag has passed a law to improve climate adaptation. The factions of the governing parties SPD, Greens and FDP voted for the law from Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens). The Union faction and the AfD voted against it. The left-wing faction abstained.
The plans of the traffic light coalition envisage binding strategies and measures for the federal, state and local governments. This will create a strategic framework for preventative climate adaptation at all administrative levels in Germany for the first time, according to the draft law. Specifically, the federal government is committed to presenting an adaptation strategy with measurable goals.
“The crux lies in the financing”
“We have to get back to the basic consensus that we have to protect the people in our country from the dramatic consequences of the climate crisis,” said Lemke in the debate in the Bundestag. The crux of the matter, however, lies in the financing. “Climate protection and climate prevention cause costs. But if we neglected to do so, the costs would be many times higher.”
The Union faction complained that the government was providing next to nothing to finance climate adaptation. “I can only appeal to you: please learn from yesterday’s Karlsruhe ruling,” said Steffen Bilger from the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. “Clarify financial questions before you legally justify obligations and costs, otherwise you will suffer another financial policy crash landing.”
Financing is a sticking point in the law – it does not contain any specific regulations. The federal government cannot finance municipal projects directly; so far this has only been possible for model projects. But measures to adapt to the climate – such as relocating dikes – can take 20 years. It is planned that the law will come into force in 2024. The Federal Council still has to agree.
The budget ruling does not make the situation any easier: the Federal Constitutional Court ruled the use of Corona loans for climate projects as unconstitutional on Wednesday. The ruling tears a 60 billion euro hole in the financing of the federal government’s climate projects.
Source: Stern
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