Germany’s green energy shift may get a financial shot in the arm when the impact of the coronavirus ebbs, according to a senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet.
When the virus’ acute phase is over, the government plans a stimulus package that advances the nation technologically and helps the economy’s move toward climate neutrality, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said in an interview with Funke Mediengruppe. Such a package “makes sense,” said the Social Democrat without adding details.
Such a move would allow Germany, Europe’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, to exploit a positive environmental quirk of Covid-19’s affect on the economy: plummeting CO2 emissions, said Patrick Graichen, executive director of the Agora Energiewende think tank in Berlin.
“What counts for the climate is sustainable reduction in emissions, not a one-time drop,” Graichen said by phone. “We need a green growth and investment program fast. For sure, once the crisis is over, emissions will soar again.
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