Despite the establishment of a €500 billion special fund for infrastructure and climate neutrality (SVIK), the German federal government plans to invest only €2.2 billion in additional climate protection measures this year. This information is detailed in a response from the Ministry of Finance to a request from Green Party Member of Parliament Lisa Badum, as reported by the “Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Badum told the newspaper she was “forced to inquire again with the government because it’s impossible to see through the many budget tricks of the CDU/CSU and SPD”. She described the Ministry’s response as “disappointing” noting a significant disparity between climate protection investments and fossil gas subsidies, which stand at €3.4 billion.
Badum stated that the €2.2 billion represents a small contribution and highlighted that the Ministry failed to address a key question: whether this additional investment would be sufficient to achieve Germany’s climate neutrality target by 2045.
The Green Party accuses the black-red coalition of improperly using funds from the SVIK, not for “additional” investments but to fill budget deficits, potentially violating constitutional principles. The party initially approved the creation of the new special fund, which partially circumvented debt restrictions, on the condition that the future government would transfer €100 billion from the SVIK to the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF). The KTF is intended to finance projects that contribute to Germany’s climate neutrality goal by 2045 and investments from the special fund were stipulated to be “additional.
In its response to Badum, the Ministry of Finance indirectly criticized the previous government, which included the Greens. The KTF economic plan for 2025, they noted, contained €9 billion in expenditures not covered by any income and the former coalition government had planned to transfer €20 billion from the fund to the regular federal budget to close gaps.