As of: 07/20/2023 9:34 p.m
Schleswig-Holstein wants to increase the pace of climate protection and become a pioneer. The aim is to become the first climate-neutral federal state by 2040. Black-Green has now presented further, but still quite vague plans.
The country is to become climate-neutral in the sectors of energy, industry, buildings, transport, agriculture and waste management and thus achieve the greenhouse gas reductions specified in the Federal Climate Protection Act. The government in Kiel announced on Thursday how the ministers intend to proceed in their respective departments in order to contribute to climate protection. Such a package of measures was announced as a central project in the coalition agreement on which the CDU and the Greens agreed last year. As a kind of milestone for 2040, a climate protection program for 2030 is to be decided – in autumn 2024, after experts and citizens have also been increasingly involved in the plans.
Data from the Northern Statistics Office show that greenhouse gas emissions in individual sectors in Schleswig-Holstein have declined in recent years and decades. However, they fell more moderately in the agriculture and building sectors.
SH aims to more than halve greenhouse gases by 2030
The goal of the state government is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 57 percent by 2030 with numerous measures. There is still a lot to do, Environment Minister Tobias Goldschmidt (Greens) admitted. Especially since the climate protection target for 2020 was not reached, as Goldschmidt said. Among other things, his Ministry of the Environment wants to expand the use of green hydrogen and renewable energies in the country, reduce CO2 emissions from hospitals and store carbon underground, for example in seagrass meadows.
A look at the individual measures shows that a lot is – as of now – still vague. In the transport sector, for example, it is still unclear exactly how the planned expansion of the country’s rail infrastructure will be tackled. This also applies to electromobility. In addition, an expansion of public transport should save emissions. As a contribution to climate protection, the state government is also citing the German-Danish project Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link, which will reduce travel times to and from Denmark.
Climate targets: “Each department is responsible for itself”
Agriculture is also in demand. “Optimizations in plant cultivation and animal husbandry, but also sustainable moorland management” are key here, said Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Werner Schwarz (CDU). In the long term, he expects further solutions from the competence center for climate-efficient agriculture.
The bottom line for Environment Minister Goldschmidt is: “We want to become climate-neutral faster than the federal government.” And according to him, each department is responsible for itself. In the end, says Goldschmidt, the goals in the north could also be offset within the government as a whole.
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NDR 1 Wave North | News for Schleswig-Holstein | 07/20/2023 | 17:00 o’clock