BERLIN — Germany’s government is facing a major test after two junior partners in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition sparred publicly over a key element in the country’s ambitious climate policy.
Economy and Energy Minister Robert Habeck of the environmentalist Greens accused the libertarian Free Democratic Party of backtracking on agreements by refusing to let lawmakers debate a bill for replacing home heating systems with greener alternatives.
The cabinet approved the bill in March after months of intensive haggling. A major stumbling block was the Green party’s demand that the installation of new oil or gas furnaces should be banned from next year to ensure Germany can meet its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2045.
A compromise saw numerous exceptions and subsidies included in the bill, but the Free Democrats later said they still had misgivings, meaning it is unlikely to be taken up by parliament before the summer recess.
“In Berlin, Habeck said that this was a violation of promise.
“If you enter into government and give your word, then you stand by your word,” he added.
Populist newspapers have claimed that installing climate-friendly heat pumps will be hugely expensive and may not be feasible in older buildings, though such systems are widely used in neighboring countries. Experts counter that a failure to replace fossil fuel heatings will end up costing homeowners more as the price of oil and gas rise sharply in the coming decades because of emissions surcharges agreed at the European level.
Scholz, who has mostly tried to ignore the dispute between his junior partners and his center-left Social Democratic Party members on Tuesday, said that Germany’s transition to a climate-neutral economy will only be successful if politicians are able to convince voters their concerns have been taken seriously.
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