DRÄXLMAIER calls for an implementation programme for climate neutrality

With their appeal, 69 businesses call upon the parties to put Germany on a clear and reliable path to climate neutrality - as the detailed exploratory talks on the formation of the new German government begin. They call upon the new German government to launch an implementation programme for climate neutrality within its first 100 days. In doing so, the German private sector is sending a clear signal for ambitious climate action during the new legislative period.

"We face the task of transforming the economy together - for a climate-neutral future. With an implementation programme for climate protection, a new German government should create the political framework for a climate-neutral Europe to succeed with innovation and growth," says Daniel Ostner, Head of Sustainability Management at DRÄXLMAIER. "As a company, we are ready to drive future climate policy fields and key technologies, especially in these times," Ostner continues.

The businesses involved include prominent representatives of all relevant sectors and key industries, including the raw materials and chemicals industries, machine and automobile manufacturers, the financial industry, and large enterprises from the buildings, mobility, and trade sectors. Taken together, they employ more than one million people in Germany and over five million people worldwide and represent a global turnover of around one trillion Euro.

‘Climate protection was the decisive topic in the federal election and the parties must place it at the top of their agenda in building the new federal government,’ said Prof. Dr. Michael Otto, president of Foundation 2º, businessman, and chairman of the board of the Otto Group. ‘The decade for taking climate action has begun. The new federal government must now set the framework so that we as businesspeople can make climate neutrality a trademark of the German private sector,’ Otto continued.

Following the holistic approach of the European Commission’s Green Deal, the enterprises’ appeal includes a call for the implementation programme to contain a package of concrete measures so that the goal of climate neutrality can be reached with certainty by 2045. The transformation to climate neutrality necessitates an accelerated expansion of important technologies and infrastructures. This particularly applies to the expansion of renewable energies and the electricity grid needed to do so, as well as to climate-friendly industrial facilities and transport infrastructure and to building refurbishments for increased energy efficiency.

‘“Making climate neutrality work” should become the motto of the new legislative period. The new government must take courageous and determined climate policy action and can build upon the support of this broad business alliance in doing so,’ said Sabine Nallinger, managing director of Foundation 2º. ‘It is now a matter of making an implementation programme for climate neutrality a central pillar of the coalition talks and new government. Just weeks before COP26 in Glasgow and before the important decisions to be taken on the “Fit for 55” package of the EU, these businesses are sending an important signal to the European and international community with this appeal,’ Nallinger continued.

You can find the entire statement here in German and English.