The German Cabinet has approved a new bill to reduce the country's greenhouse gas emissions at a faster rate, fixing a goal of becoming climate neutral by 2045.
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This target is five years earlier than previously planned. The new legislation also sets in stone five-year targets on the path to climate neutrality.
"With this law, we are achieving greater equality between the generations, greater security in planning for the future and a bold climate protection plan that does not stall the economy, but restructures and modernises it," Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said.
The legislation is the government's response to an unprecedented court ruling at the end of April that demanded that Germany share the burden of reducing emissions between the older and younger generations.
The Constitutional Court ruled that the country's climate protection laws were not extensive enough.
"Immediate measures" to put the legislation into effect are set to be presented in the coming weeks.
One such measure already agreed by the Cabinet is that landlords will need to bear half of the costs of emissions related to energy use at their properties.
The immediate measures come amid criticism that the new legislation contains many targets but few concrete actions to meet them.
One such critic was Annalena Baerbock, the co-leader of the Green Party. Earlier on Wednesday she described the legislation as a missed opportunity and called for a plan that lays out "honestly and clearly" what measures the government would need to take.
She asked why the government had not explained that to meet the targets, in her view, renewable energy capacity in the country would have to be doubled. There should be a federal mandate to set aside 2 per cent of German territory for wind power, she told broadcaster ARD.
Baerbock's party is polling at around 25 per cent nationwide, and it is seen as a likely candidate for coalition government after September elections, which would give it significant leverage in Germany's future climate policy.
Europe's biggest economy has so far managed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent compared to 1990 levels. The bill envisages a series of new benchmarks: a reduction of 65 per cent by 2030, 77 per cent by 2035, and 88 per cent by 2040.
The 2045 target is climate neutrality, when a country has net greenhouse emissions of zero.
The bill also limits emissions for six sectors of the economy, and would force them to reduce emissions at a faster pace than previously.
Australian Associated Press
