Even in the energy crisis, climate protection must not get under the wheels - thinks Green-Black and has raised the targets for traffic, buildings and industry. But the employers put big question marks behind the plans.
Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - The economy in the southwest is making a front against the new climate targets of the green-black state government for the individual sectors such as industry and transport. There is no question that, despite the severe energy crisis, climate protection must remain a high priority in the future. "However, we do not consider setting binding climate protection targets at state level to be expedient," said Peer-Michael Dick, general manager of the Baden-Württemberg Association of Entrepreneurs, of the German Press Agency in Stuttgart. It is already difficult enough to allocate global climate targets to the European Union and its member states. "An even more detailed consideration - i.e. breaking it down to the level of the federal states - does not make sense from our point of view."
Greens and CDU recently approved the draft for the new climate protection law with ambitious goals. By 2030, greenhouse gas emissions are to be reduced by half across all areas. The CO2 emissions of industry in the country must therefore be greatly reduced. In 1990 these were 18.8 million tons, in 2019 it was 12.7 million tons. In 2030 it should only be 7.2 million, a drop of 43 percent. With the amendment, Baden-Württemberg intends to be the first federal state to enshrine in law specific targets for reducing CO2 for transport, buildings and the economy.
CEO Dick believes the law is a threat to industry. "It is crucial for us that the climate goals can be achieved without a loss of competitiveness of our companies." However, the sector targets envisaged in the draft law represent a burden for companies in the south-west. "Right now it must be a matter of supporting the economy in the south-west in dealing with the effects of the current crisis instead of hindering it." Measures that only apply to companies in Baden-Württemberg could mean competitive disadvantages. "Think, for example, of Baden-Württemberg's solo effort in the coalition agreement towards a truck toll on state and municipal roads."
The Baden-Württemberg Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BWIHK) complained that the state government had not yet included business in its plans. "It is unclear how the sector goals in the industrial sector are to be achieved," said BWIHK President Wolfgang Grenke of the dpa. "The packages of measures currently proposed are not really sufficient in any sector to achieve the climate protection goals. Industry in particular will be left to its own devices to a certain extent as to how the ambitious goals are to be achieved."
Many companies have taken a variety of climate protection measures in recent years, especially in energy efficiency and renewable energies. "However, the continuous emission reductions in the Baden-Württemberg industrial sector were almost compensated for by the increased economic output."
Grenke proposed a different calculation for climate protection: action must be taken in the sense of an "efficiency requirement", in which every ton of CO2 saved is offset against the capital employed. Because: The focus must be on the “overall goal achievement”. The BWIHK President also urges a significant acceleration of approval procedures for renewable energies and industrial plants. "Because without a massive increase in renewable energies and without the drastic restructuring of industry, including the transformation of production facilities, it is not realistic to achieve targets in the industrial sector."
The government adopted the climate targets from a report that several research institutes had prepared for the Ministry of the Environment. The study speaks of an "ambitious change towards greenhouse gas-neutral industrial production". The change includes measures and fundamental reversal in all areas: Energy and material efficiency must be increased, the circular economy expanded and a switch to renewable energies made. A conversion of the energy-intensive cement industry and the use of hydrogen are also necessary.
