Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that answer the question.
Query: Who led writing of the German Climate Action Plan 2050?
The German Climate Action Plan 2050 (German: Klimaschutzplan 2050) is a climate protection policy document approved by the German government on 14November 2016.[1] The plan outlines measures by which Germany can meet its various national greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals through to 2050 (see table) and service its international commitments under the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement. The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), under minister Barbara Hendricks, led the development of the plan. The plan was progressively watered down since a draft was first leaked in early-May 2016. Projections from the environment ministry in September 2016 indicate that Germany will likely miss its 2020 climate target.[2]
Regine Günther, director of policy and climate at WWF Germany, said "today's climate action plan is only a fraction of what is needed. The only plus point: all sectors get precise reduction targets, which WWF welcomes. However, the list of negatives is much longer: there are no appropriate measures to reach those targets. There is also a blank on the issue of coal. The plan completely dropped the urgently needed ban on further extension of open cast mining. The commission on coal will not start until 2018, after the federal elections. A minimum price on carbon is also missing completely. With this plan, the industry and energy lobbies have proven how well placed they are in the economy ministry. With such a plan there can be no ambitious climate protection."[53]
On 14November 2016, the cabinet officially adopted and released the new plan.[1][48][49] It was overseen by a CDU/CSU/SPD grand coalition government, led by Angela Merkel. The timing allowed environment minister Barbara Hendricks to present the German plan at the COP22 climate talks held in Marrakesh, Morocco. Canada, Mexico, and the US also presented climate action plans.[50]
Under the plan, the government will consider how to incrementally revise taxation through to 2050, on the understanding that "environmental taxes and levies can create incentives for ecological economic activity" and that "environmentally related taxes and levies can cost-efficiently trigger climate-friendly economic behavior". The government also intends to reduce environmentally harmful subsidies. In addition, the government will support efforts to reconcile global finance flows with climate protection goals, for instance through its role on the G20 Financial Stability Board.[1][20]
The German Climate Action Plan 2050 was approved by the German government on 14 November 2016. It is a climate protection policy document that outlines the measures that Germany will take to meet its national greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals by 2050, as well as service its international commitments under the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement. Projections from the ministry of environment in September 2016 indicate that Germany will likely miss its 2020 climate target.
The Climate Action Plan2050 should not be confused with an earlier document, the Climate Action Programme2020 (Aktionsprogramm Klimaschutz2020), approved in December 2014 and which only covers the period until 2020. In early 2017 it was agreed that the 2020 Programme would be scrapped.
A draft of the plan was leaked to media for the first time in early-May 2016.[30] It was the result of consolidating a long catalog of measures from the consultation process. The leaked plan included proposals for:[30]
Environmental groups have become increasingly critical of the plan as each iteration led to a watering down of its climate protection provisions. The NGOs were particularly concerned about the lack of detail concerning a coal phase-out. On 24 September 2016, Greenpeace Germany issued a report critical of the watering down of the results of the consultation process.[37][38]
Barbara Hendricks (SPD) – the environment minister during the development of the plan Climate change mitigation – actions to limit climate change Energiewende in Germany – the German energy system transition German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB)
ecological tax reform and the internalization of environmental costs climate friendly investment reducing emissions from coal and a phase-out of coal (Kohleausstieg) well before 2050 making both old and new buildings climate-neutral the digitalisation and electrification of the transport sector a floor price for carbon and climate-aware investment a reduction in the numbers of ruminant animals and for the public to eat less meat the use forests as carbon sinks and the renaturalisation of moorlands for the same purpose the investigation of a new national welfare index the embedding of climate protection in local and regional public services
Notwithstanding, a coal phase-out for Germany is implied in the plan, environment minister Barbara Hendricks said in an interview on 21November 2016. "If you read the Climate Action Plan carefully, you will find that the exit from coal-fired power generation is the immanent consequence of the energy sector target.... By 2030... half of the coal-fired power production must have ended, compared to 2014", Hendricks said.[51][52]
The preamble also reiterates Germany's 2010 climate targets (see table) and its 2016 Paris Agreement commitment.[lower-alpha 2][1]
A draft of the plan was leaked to media for the second time in late-June 2016. The draft was dated 21June 2016 and is available for download in German.[32] Unlike the first leak, this draft was compiled after consultation with the economics and energy ministry (BMWi).[33]
– approved version dated 3December 2014 (this initiative preceded the Climate Action Plan2050) — approved version dated 14November 2016 (in German) (in German) (Full document in English) in English
In the spring of 2007, then-President Peggy R. Williams signed the American College and University President's Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), pledging Ithaca College to the task of developing a strategy and long-range plan to achieve "carbon neutrality" at some point in the future. In 2009 the Ithaca College Board of Trustees approved the Ithaca College Climate Action Plan, which calls for 100% carbon neutrality by 2050. In 2009, the Ithaca College Board of Trustees approved the Ithaca College Climate Action Plan, which calls for 100% carbon neutrality by 2050 and offers a 40-year action plan to work toward that ambitious goal.
The plan also suggested a "pluralistic" (meaning diverse groups are represented) commission be established, tasked with developing a coal phase-out plan by mid-2017.[30]
The plan is to be supplemented by a program of policy measures, developed by the German parliament (Bundestag), with the first such program to be in place in 2018. Annual reporting will track progress and should facilitate specific policy adjustments where needed.[20]:6
An official draft was released on 6September 2016 and is available in German.[35] This draft retains a provision for the establishment of a Commission on Climate Protection, Growth, Structural Change, and the Completion of the Energiewende.
[I]n Germany we want to define an emissions reduction pathway with a final target of 80to 95percent lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990 by 2050. We will augment this target with concrete measures, drawn up through a broad dialogue (Climate Action Plan).[20]:1
The Climate Action Programme2020 was approved on 3December 2014.[10] The official document is available in English.[11]
Following the leaked document, state governments became increasingly concerned that they were being railroaded into climate change goals that could damage their regional economies.[31]
We want to advance the upcoming changes without structural ruptures. It's about using the strength and creativity of the German market economy, as well as the forces of competition to reach existing national, European and international climate protection targets.[1]
In early 2017 the government agreed to scrap the 2020 plan entirely.[19]
The plan begins with a preamble that states that the document is an evolving work in progress and "cannot and does not want to be a detailed masterplan".[1] It adds that there will be "no rigid provisions" and that the plan is technology neutral and open to innovation.[1] The preamble stresses that the government will simultaneously maintain German competitiveness:
In late-2016, the plan went to the Chancellery (Bundeskanzleramt) to coordinate the final version to be agreed by the German cabinet (Bundeskabinett).