No Green Strings Attached in Lufthansa’s Bailout Package

By Paul Homewood

 

 While the BBC demands we use bailouts to promote its green agenda, it’s business as usual in Germany:

 

Germany’s multi-billion euro bailout of Deutsche Lufthansa AG may cost the airline some precious airport slots, but one thing it won’t have to do is meet any new environmental rules.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government on Monday offered Lufthansa a 9 billion-euro ($9.9 billion) package to help the carrier survive the coronavirus pandemic. There was no mention of new measures to safeguard the climate, leaving the airline to stick to its strategy of replacing old jets with more fuel-efficient models and using less-polluting alternative fuels where possible.

It’s a sharp contrast to demands attached to bailout packages from other European Union countries, which are seeking fresh measures to curb airlines’ carbon footprints.

“It is a big mistake that Germany, unlike France, the Netherlands or Austria, does not link economic aid to specific climate-protection requirements,” said Claudia Kemfert, professor of energy economics at the DIW research institute in Berlin. “An important opportunity is lost.”

While emissions from Germany’s power-generation sector have fallen in line with government targets, those from the transportation industry have remained stubbornly high, partly due to surging demand for air travel. The aviation sector has faced criticism for offering lower prices than state railway operator Deutsche Bahn AG for intercity routes.

The bailout for Lufthansa, the airline that connects Germany to the far-flung markets on which its export juggernaut depends, will see the state take a 20% stake. There was no demand that domestic routes be eliminated.

https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/lufthansa-bailout-comes-with-no-new-climate-strings-attached