Berlin: Tens of thousands of climate activists including Greta Thunberg German cities began to descend on Friday to ease pressure on candidates competing to succeed Angela Merkel in this weekend’s general election.
As GermanyWith the U.S.’s top parties holding final rallies before Sunday’s vote, the Friday for Future Youth March will make the case that the political class has let the younger generation down.
“Political parties have not taken the climate disaster seriously enough,” Louisa Neubauer, who runs the group’s German chapter, told AFP.
He said Germany, as one of the world’s top emitters of greenhouse gases, had a great responsibility to set an example over time for reversing destructive trends.
“That’s why we’re calling it the election of the century,” she said.
The race has boiled down to a two-way contest between Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, the liberal finance minister, and Armin Laschet of Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats.
Polls give Scholz a small lead of 26 percent over Laskett at about 22 percent, with ecologist Greens candidate, Annalena Barbock, trailing in mid-teens.
Despite the urgency of the climate issue for most Germans, especially after the deadly floods in West Germany in July, this has failed to translate into strong support for the relatively inexperienced Barbock.
He told Die Welt newspaper that he hoped Friday’s rally would help his party move towards the vote. “The next government has to be a climate government – one that will only work with a strong Green Party.”
More than 400 “climate strikes” are planned across Germany, Swedish Thunberg, who inspired the movement, was expected to speak out. Reichstag Parliament building.
Gathered under the banner “We are young and the world is needed!” And “all for the climate”, activists would argue “the climate crisis is the biggest problem of this century”.
Friday for Future said the German protests would be part of a global climate strike in more than 1,000 communities around the world.
Their central demand is to limit Earth’s temperature to a maximum of 1.5 °C (2.7 Fahrenheit) set in the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
The Paris Agreement set a goal of reducing global warming by two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and aspires to increase further to 1.5 Celsius.
Despite Merkel’s outspoken support of climate safeguards, Germany has repeatedly failed to meet its emissions reduction targets under the agreement.
In a landmark ruling in April, Germany’s constitutional court found the government’s plans to reduce CO2 emissions “inadequate” to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and placed an “unreasonable burden” on future generations.
The Friday for Future movement launched global school strikes more than two years ago, arguing that time is running out to prevent irreversible damage from the warming of the planet.
According to organisers, in September 2019, it drew huge crowds in cities and towns around the world, including 1.4 million protesters in Germany.
“The climate crisis cannot be solved by partisan politics alone,” Thunberg told reporters ahead of his appearance in Berlin.
“We can’t just vote for change, we also have to be active democratic citizens and take to the streets and demand action.”
About 60.4 million Germans called to vote on Sunday and most voters cite climate protection as their top priority.
All three major parties have said they aim to implement the climate protection agenda if elected, with the Greens offering the most ambitious package of measures.
However, Friday for Future activists have said that even an official program of the Greens is not necessary for a 1.5 °C temperature rise.
The Greens want to end the use of coal energy by 2030 instead of the current 2038 and end production of combustion engine cars in the same year.
While the party is expected to fall short of its ambition to win Sunday’s election and replace Barbock as chancellor, polls indicate it has a chance to join the ruling coalition as a junior partner under either Scholz or Laschet. There’s a good chance.
As GermanyWith the U.S.’s top parties holding final rallies before Sunday’s vote, the Friday for Future Youth March will make the case that the political class has let the younger generation down.
“Political parties have not taken the climate disaster seriously enough,” Louisa Neubauer, who runs the group’s German chapter, told AFP.
He said Germany, as one of the world’s top emitters of greenhouse gases, had a great responsibility to set an example over time for reversing destructive trends.
“That’s why we’re calling it the election of the century,” she said.
The race has boiled down to a two-way contest between Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, the liberal finance minister, and Armin Laschet of Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats.
Polls give Scholz a small lead of 26 percent over Laskett at about 22 percent, with ecologist Greens candidate, Annalena Barbock, trailing in mid-teens.
Despite the urgency of the climate issue for most Germans, especially after the deadly floods in West Germany in July, this has failed to translate into strong support for the relatively inexperienced Barbock.
He told Die Welt newspaper that he hoped Friday’s rally would help his party move towards the vote. “The next government has to be a climate government – one that will only work with a strong Green Party.”
More than 400 “climate strikes” are planned across Germany, Swedish Thunberg, who inspired the movement, was expected to speak out. Reichstag Parliament building.
Gathered under the banner “We are young and the world is needed!” And “all for the climate”, activists would argue “the climate crisis is the biggest problem of this century”.
Friday for Future said the German protests would be part of a global climate strike in more than 1,000 communities around the world.
Their central demand is to limit Earth’s temperature to a maximum of 1.5 °C (2.7 Fahrenheit) set in the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
The Paris Agreement set a goal of reducing global warming by two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and aspires to increase further to 1.5 Celsius.
Despite Merkel’s outspoken support of climate safeguards, Germany has repeatedly failed to meet its emissions reduction targets under the agreement.
In a landmark ruling in April, Germany’s constitutional court found the government’s plans to reduce CO2 emissions “inadequate” to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and placed an “unreasonable burden” on future generations.
The Friday for Future movement launched global school strikes more than two years ago, arguing that time is running out to prevent irreversible damage from the warming of the planet.
According to organisers, in September 2019, it drew huge crowds in cities and towns around the world, including 1.4 million protesters in Germany.
“The climate crisis cannot be solved by partisan politics alone,” Thunberg told reporters ahead of his appearance in Berlin.
“We can’t just vote for change, we also have to be active democratic citizens and take to the streets and demand action.”
About 60.4 million Germans called to vote on Sunday and most voters cite climate protection as their top priority.
All three major parties have said they aim to implement the climate protection agenda if elected, with the Greens offering the most ambitious package of measures.
However, Friday for Future activists have said that even an official program of the Greens is not necessary for a 1.5 °C temperature rise.
The Greens want to end the use of coal energy by 2030 instead of the current 2038 and end production of combustion engine cars in the same year.
While the party is expected to fall short of its ambition to win Sunday’s election and replace Barbock as chancellor, polls indicate it has a chance to join the ruling coalition as a junior partner under either Scholz or Laschet. There’s a good chance.
.