Berlin, Germany – As the European Commission’s deadline for the submission of a national climate social plan approaches, the leader of the German Greens, Felix Banaszak, has written a letter to Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, expressing concerns over the plan’s delay.
According to the letter, as reported by the Tagesspiegel, the national climate social plan is a prerequisite for the allocation of 5.3 billion euros in EU climate funds for Germany starting from 2026. Banaszak argues that the rising cost of CO2, making heating and fueling more expensive, necessitates a social balance to offset the social impacts of climate policy. He believes that only with a social plan in place can the broad societal acceptance of the upcoming second European Emissions Trading System be maintained.
Regierungskreise, or government sources, have confirmed that the climate social plan is indeed not fully complete by the deadline. The Ministry of the Environment and Climate Protection stated that they are working on a plan and do not expect Germany to miss out on EU funds, citing that other countries are also likely to miss the deadline.