Guest essay by Eric Worrall

Economic and political reality is biting hard in Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced a push back against CO2 emissions targets which she originally helped to propose.

Merkel Pushing Back Against Higher EU Climate Change Target

Dave Keating

Aug 27, 2018,5:01 pm

In 2014, the leaders of the 28 countries of the European Union came to a difficult compromise on combating climate change – agreeing to make greenhouse gas emissions 40% lower than 1990 levels by 2030.

Now, some of those countries say new data and Europe’s alarming heat wave this summer mean that target should be raised to 45%.

Miguel Arias Cañete, the EU’s energy chief, said earlier this month that he will put forward just such a proposal in September, following a request in June from 14 EU countries including France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

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Though Germany was one of the original signatories of the letter asking for an increase, following significant pressure from German industry, Chancellor Angela Merkel has changed her tune.

Asked this weekend about the proposal to raise the target, Merkel told the German program Tageschau that she is opposed. “I am not so happy about the new proposals because many member states today do not comply with what they have already promised,” she said “We should first reach the goals we have already set. I don’t think that constantly setting new targets makes sense.”

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