Germany’s transport minister has suggested banning weekend car use for the sake of meeting proposed emission quotas.
The two-day-a-week ban on personal use of the car, as well as new speed limits, are being considered as part of an effort to reduce Germany’s carbon footprint in the latest example of governments trying to control people for the sake of green targets.
Transport minister Volker Wissing, a member of the supposedly pro-market FDP party, made the remarks in relation to an impending new piece of onerous climate legislation, the Climate Protection Act, warning that the restrictions on personal car use could be implemented if alternative amendments were not made.
“Comprehensive and indefinite driving bans on Saturdays and Sundays” are being considered, Wissing admitted as Germany’s coalition government struggles to set emission cuts per sector under the proposed new climate legislation.
Germany is already facing the prospect of destroying its native auto industry with plans to ban new combustion engines after 2035. Meanwhile, green austerity has already prompted a fightback from farmers.
Under the terms of the Climate Protection Act, the German economy will have to cut 22 million metric tonnes of carbon emissions per year. Wissing told radio station Deutschlandfunk that “such large quantities can only be saved ad hoc by not using cars and trucks.”
Despite the country recently setting records on CO2 reductions and contributing just 2% of global CO2 emissions, Germany’s green-left coalition is pushing to go even further. Critics accuse them of risking the country’s industrial future with plans to transition the economy away from fossil fuels far too quickly.
