Controversial traffic light coalition can still agree

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Almost three days of struggling behind closed doors. In the end, it was all worth it, the leaders of the traffic light coalition announced on Tuesday evening. “We made real breakthroughs, real paradigm shifts and therefore the result speaks for itself,” said FDP leader Christian Lindner (44) after the coalition committee negotiation marathon in Berlin. If it always goes like this, “then we should go on a three-day retreat every month from now on”.

“The painstaking work and negotiation process now undertaken by the coalition parties and my government is representative of society as a whole moving towards an economically successful modern age,” said Chancellor Olaf Scholz (64). Resources: As divided as the coalition presented itself recently, society is also divided when it comes to climate protection and its costs. Even before the end, the Chancellor exuberantly promised “very, very, very good results”.

Faster planning for trains, power grids, but also for roads and major changes in climate protection legislation. The traffic light parties have agreed on these and other points after hours of consultation. The question of which planning procedures should be accelerated in particular used to be a bitter battle. In the end, these decisions were made:

Planning procedures for all major infrastructure projects need to be streamlined and accelerated. The expansion of rail, road and energy networks and in particular renewable energy sources were mentioned.

For roads, this applies to 144 highway projects with a focus on removing existing bottlenecks. In addition, the possibility of building solar systems in the periphery of new highways should be used.

The required investment volume for Deutsche Bahn is estimated at 45 billion euros in 2027. In the future, the revenue from truck tolls will also be used for financing, which must be increased by a CO2 surcharge from next year. 80 percent of the extra income must then benefit the rail network and train traffic.

Electromobility should be promoted by expanding the infrastructure of charging stations. At the same time, the coalition wants to develop a strategy for the import of e-fuels, or CO2-neutral synthetic fuels. All CO2 neutral vehicles must be treated equally in tax law.

The Climate Protection Act is being revised on important points. Instead of hitherto strict annual emission targets for individual domains such as energy, industry, transport and buildings, it should be possible to compensate for missed targets in one sector in another. In principle, however, the sectoral objectives should be maintained. Instead of fixed annual targets, there is a greater focus on a longer period, for example up to 2030. It is confirmed that Germany must be climate neutral by 2045.

Changes in conservation legislation should also help speed up planning. The old principle, according to which compensation must be made in other areas for the loss of natural areas, must be weakened. Instead, the compensation should also be able to take the form of a cash payment.

The traffic light parties are committed to the goal of dispensing with fossil heating systems as much as possible and to absorb this transition socially. Specifications for newly installed heating systems must ensure that this space is also redesigned in a climate-friendly way. This is financed with resources from the Climate and Transformation Fund. For example, heating systems that work with “green” hydrogen from renewable energy sources or “blue” CO2-neutral hydrogen from natural gas or biomass must remain possible. However, there should be no obligation to replace existing heating systems.

The measures taken must not cause additional costs to the federal budget. (AFP/SDA)

Source: Blick