In the wake of the lofty declarations made at the Paris Conference to roll back CO2 emissions, a number of high level Environment Ministry bureaucrats in Germany’s government have been eagerly concocting a “radical bill” dubbed “Climate Protection 2050″ designed to make Germany almost carbon-free by 2050. Already the bill’s extremism and disconnect from reality is coming under heavy fire.
Online German national daily Die Welt has a piece by Daniel Wetzel titled: German Economy Fears Eco-Dictatorship.
High costs would devastate the poor
In the wake of Paris, Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks has put together a “catalogue of measures” which she and her Ministry hope will passed into law by early summer.
Should the proposals be enacted into law, Wetzel writes that it would mean “higher rental prices for apartments, higher taxes, mandatory renovations by building owners, speed limits and massive cost hikes for industrial enterprises“.
The proposals call for the mandatory, comprehensive renovation of buildings that owners would be forced by law to carry out. Such huge costs of course would have to be passed on to the occupants who rent or lease the buildings.
Wetzel writes that Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks is moving rapidly to get the bill enacted before summertime. Industry, Wetzel writes, warns of “catastrophic consequences” should the CO2 restricting proposals be adopted. The catalogue of measures designed to lead Germany to a near zero-carbon society by 2050 has the industry spooked. Wetzel writes of an “urgent letter” by leading industry trade organizations to the Environment Ministry – one that used uncharacteristically harsh terms such as “threatening ecology or climate dictatorship”. Copies of the letter were also send to the heads of other German federal ministries, such as the Ministry of Transportation and Ministry Of Commerce.