Merkel’s climate record comes under fire

German Chancellor Angela Merkel fights hard for climate protection on the international stage, but allows industry lobbyists to distract her from Germany’s own climate targets, researchers have claimed.

Claudia Kemfert, head of the energy department at the German Institute for Economic Research, told the news website Deutsche Welle that although Merkel does not oppose a clean energy transition, she “has listened too much to lobbyists”.

“On the world stage, Merkel fights for international climate agreements, while at home she misses her own climate targets,” Kemfert said in the article published on 18 September. Germany is not likely to meet its goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2020, having achieved a cut of only 28 per cent by 2016.