Merkel once more: Climate analysts read ‘diesel, eco-vandal’

What will another 4 years of Merkel mean for Germany’s battle against carbon emissions? Analysts assess her climate record at home to be a disaster.

Merkel, the ‘climate chancellor’ brokered the first UN climate agreement, persuaded the G7 leaders to pledge to kill fossil fuels by 2100, created Germany’s Energiewende– energy transition. Yet she’s seen as ‘leading eco-vandal’.

Merkel’s ‘weakness’ for Auto lobbyists

Merkel’s biggest flaw:’weakness’ towards German auto lobbyists. They got the EU to replace petrol engines with diesel claiming, falsely, that diesel engines produce less carbon dioxide than petrol ones. In 2013, Merkel blocked EU plan to limit CO2 emissions from cars by 2020. She struck secret pact with David Cameron, to defy EU fuel laws. Her party got €700,000 donation from BMW. In 2014, when the European commission warned that German diesel engine emissions were far higher than what they claimed, Merkel defended the deiselgate.

In 2007 she forced EU to choose disastrous option of biofuel to replace fossil fuels. The European biofuel rule is seen as the cause behind world’s greatest environmental disasters: the burning of Indonesian rain forests and their replacement with oil palm.

Merkel and Coal

Greenhouse gas emissions in other EU nations have fallen sharply, but not in Germany. Merkel has repeatedly blocked the environment ministry’s efforts to set a deadline for an end to coal power. Lignite, one of the dirtiest coal fuel supplies 40% of Germany’s electricity.

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Editorial Team

A team of handpicked and dedicated writers committed to fact check each climate-related statement. Go to the roots and intent of each policy implemented, internationally and at home to help you understand climate better

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