Radical Climate Bill Stuns German Industry
By Paul Homewood
While Ed Miliband and Andrea Leadsom talk about total decarbonisation of our economy, Germany it seems is already making concrete plans.
Pierre Gosselin has details of this article from Die Welt:
In the wake of the lofty declarations made at the Paris Conference to roll back global 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 are coming under heavy fire.
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 be passed into law by early summer.
Should the proposals be enacted, 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 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 groups addressed to the Environment Ministry – one that uses uncharacteristically harsh terms such as “threatening ecology or climate dictatorship“. Copies of the letter were also sent to the heads of other German federal ministries, such as the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry Of Commerce.
“Poison list of draconian measures”
According to Wetzel some of the proposals include severe tax penalties for owners of “energy inefficient” buildings should they refuse to implement costly renovation works. The catalogue also calls for excruciatingly high taxes on heating oil and natural gas. Wetzel quotes Andreas Lücke of the German Heating Industry Association (BDH) who calls the “Climate Protection Plan 2050″ a “poison list of draconian measures.”
The catalogue of climate measures also calls for the heavy taxation of coal power plants, which thus would put tens of thousands of coal mining and power sector jobs in jeopardy. Also the catalogue calls for a speed limit of 120 km/hr on the country’s famed autobahns and a snail-like speed of 30 km/hr. within all city limits.
The proposed climate protection bill also calls for eliminating fossil fuel combustion engines in motor vehicles by 2050, which means no internal combustion engine cars will be sold after 2030. Already today Germany’s plan to get one million cars onto the streets by 2020 is only some 2% fulfilled, as no one is interested in electric cars. Wetzel writes:
When the German government foresees the death of the combustion engine within the next 14 years, even though electric cars have failed to sell so far, it shows us the newly acquired level of radicalism that their climate-political demands and expectations have taken on”.
When examining the catalogue of measures proposed in the Environment Ministry’s bill, one has to wonder if the German government has any remaining connection left to reality. If this bill does not get watered down severely – very severely, then Germany may find itself needing a wall to keep the citizens and companies in – and not refugees out. It’s mind-boggingly radical and extreme. Germany’s Ministry Of Environment obviously does not have a balanced panel of advisors, but rather one likely made up of only extreme environmental activists.
Wetzel writes of requests being made by the WWF, which is calling for a transition over to the full electrification of the entire transport sectors, industrial processes and heating, and away from fossil fuels altogether. This, the WWF feels, can be accomplished with sun and wind. They also call for the end of coal power by 2035. However, the WWF gave no specifics how this should be accomplished.
From an energy engineering standpoint, little of what is proposed by the catalogue can be done without major sacrifice. So, it is little wonder the government realized this and rightly scaled back on renewable energies already over the past couple of years. But when the bill reaches Parliament in early summer, nothing can be excluded. Yet, we should give them the benefit of the doubt. Expect the highly corrosive measures to be severely watered down.
You have been warned!
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Plans to eliminate ICE cars by 2050 are part of the EU’s 2011 Transport White Paper. It aims to:
“Halve the use of ‘conventionally fuelled’ cars in urban transport by 2030, phase them out in cities by 2050 and to achieve essentially CO2-free city logistics in major urban centres by 2030.”
30kph limits have been part of the EU’s urban mobility plan as well as ISA or ‘smart’ speed limiters I would presume smart speed limiters to work there would need to be an (autobahn) speed limit!
At the same time introducing Zil Lanes in EU cities?
In the big picture of things perhaps it’s a good idea for one top tier country to demolish their standard of living. Give the greens rope to enact the whole plethora of goodies.
Let the world watch and see ??
A pilot study.
Bad idea ?
We should open a book as to how long it will take for some of our political ‘leaders’ try to outdo the Germans!
Is there any end to the lunacy.
No doubt the bill will receive much support from Germany’s business competitors.
Is Barbara Hendricks a Chinese agent?
Or stark, staring bonkers?
Maybe both.
There is no other explanation.
Barbara Hendricks is an American opera singer – maybe she has transferred to another world of fantasy.
“When the German government foresees the death of the combustion engine within the next 14 years, even though electric cars have failed to sell so far, it shows us the newly acquired level of radicalism that their climate-political demands and expectations have taken on”
Does anybody seriously expect Porsche, Audi/VW, Mercedes Benz & BMW to let them get away with this?
What do these lunatics recommend for aviation power – rubber bands?
If they kill the German economy, they will kill the EU as well. Hopefully we will be out of it by then anyway.
When are the public going to realise these so-called ‘climate measures’ are utterly useless?
When it becomes too expensive or basics such as heat on cold days or ample food is regularly threatened.
Reminds me of how to train a mouse.
Is there irony to the fact that Gosselin re-published a chart with data from the German Weather Service (DWD) showing their falling temperatures from 1998-2012, while CO2 was rising? (US shows the same thing).
die Menschen bekommen, die Regierung, die sie verdienen
Just the threat of such radical measures will be sufficient to persuade much of the remainder of German industry to move to another country, most probably the USA, perhaps also Russia. Some car manufactures are already setting up plants abroad, also some of their chemical industry. Before long the German economy will emulate that of Greece. Now there’s an irony.
I have warned of such things were likely to come for many years, decades even. For my troubles some people laughed at me saying I must be mad, paranoid, or both.
Funny that now when the same people see these types of reports they look annoyed. Some are angry at me — as if I have caused it.
Ho-humm they still do not see — there is no joy in their enlightenment, no happiness from knowledge, there is no understanding, no wisdom, there is however confusion, disbelief, and denial.
“Germany it seems is already making concrete plans.”
Didn’t you mean “plans for no concrete”. Oh but they’re not. Their climate “plan” is diktat and wishful thinking. Reality denial. I still can’t get greens to acknowledge that German CO2 per capita emissions have not fallen since 2009. http://greenfallacies.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/no-german-carbon-dioxide-emission.html
I think all these idiotic politicians should be rounded up and sent off back to school to learn the basics of our amazing planet. Do any of them know that plants need carbon dioxide to grow and produce veg and fruit. Do they know that our oxygen is their waste product. Where do they think our oxygen comes from ? The brilliant balance of everything on our planet is being put in jeopardy because of their ignorance and stupidity. I cannot believe these people grew up and went to school !! Where do we go for help ?