- Germany’s Transport Minister, Volker Wissing, is threatening a weekend driving ban if the government doesn’t change climate laws.
- The country’s transportation sector has missed its climate goals and, under law, measures must be introduced to get it back on track.
- Opponents disagree, saying that Wissing is stoking fears and looking for political leverage.
Volker Wissing, Germany’s transport minister, has argued that if amendments to the country’s climate laws are not brought in soon, he could be required to impose Draconian measures, such as a driving ban on weekends. Opponents have called the argument “false.”
Wissing is a member of the Free Democrat party and has long opposed climate measures such as speed limits on the Autobahn. Now, he is pushing for the government to introduce an amendment to allow heavily polluting industries to emit more than legally acceptable, as long as other industries pollute less to balance it all out across the country.
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In a letter sent to the leaders of Germany’s ruling coalition of parties, first seen by Bild, Wissing claimed that not introducing the amendment “serves neither the climate nor the reputation of the federal government.”
He added that, without an amendment, the transport ministry would have to introduce “restrictive measures that are difficult to communicate to the population, such as comprehensive and indefinite driving bans on Saturdays and Sundays.”
In March, it was revealed that the transportation industry had failed to meet its legally binding emissions targets for 2023, reports The Local. Under law, Germany is bound to cut its emissions by 65 percent between 1990 and 2030, while meeting annual emissions targets.
If a sector fails to meet its yearly goals, the minister in charge of it must introduce an emergency measures package to get back on track. On Monday, the Expert Council for Climate Protection is set to officially confirm the emissions statistics first reported in March, and to ask the Transport Ministry to come up with the new rules to meet its targets.
Despite the pressure that will put on the ministry, Julia Verlinden, the deputy leader of the Green party, said that Wissing’s claims are false, and added that ministers should not stoke fears in the populace in order to get their way.
Greenpeace also objected to Wissing’s rhetoric, claiming that he was turning his ministry’s failure to reduce emissions into political pressure. The group alleged that after years of blocking climate measures, the politician is creating horror scenarios so that his ministry can do less for the environment in the future.
