The German government’s climate plans
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© Marius Serban
Commenting on the German government’s climate plans, Dustin Neuneyer, Head of Germany and Austria at the Principles for Responsible Investment, said:“The PRI welcomes the German government’s ambition to phase out coal by 2030, eight years earlier than planned, ending nuclear power, and committing to expanding renewable energy provision – with a focus on wind and solar – to cover 80% of electricity needs, also by 2030. Electricity tax cuts and additional social support will help ensure a socially just and economically competitive transition. At the same time, the government takes on the important task of transforming its energy infrastructure into a “climate neutrality grid” and supports ambitious carbon pricing, next to circular economy and nature-based solutions.“It also strives to become a leading hub for sustainable finance as a means to financial market stability and supports unified European standards on ESG ratings and sustainability risk reporting, including greenhouse gas emissions. This will help push Germany towards a pathway to no more than 1.5C of warming, and to reach climate neutrality by 2045, as set into law earlier this year. Such strong legislative proposals, incorporating climate strategy across all policy areas, will benefit from equally strong transparency and accountability, through regular sectoral updates on the status of implementation. It also creates planning security and provides massive sustainable investment opportunities, across industry, buildings, infrastructure, transport, and others. It is now the private sector’s turn to take up the baton and accelerate this agenda in their investment decisions.”PRI investESG.eu is an independent and neutral platform dedicated to generating debate around ESG investing topics. All opinions expressed are those of the author or contributing source.