GERMAN CABINET PASSES LANDMARK CLIMATE BILL

The German Cabinet on Wednesday approved a new bill to reduce the country's greenhouse gas emissions at a faster rate, fixing a goal of becoming climate neutral by 2045, Fatima Abbas and Robin Powell reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

This target is five years earlier than previously planned. The new legislation also sets in stone five-year targets on the path to climate neutrality.

"With this law, we are achieving greater equality between the generations, greater security in planning for the future, and a bold climate protection plan that does not stall the economy, but restructures and modernizes it," Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said.

The legislation is the government's response to an unprecedented court ruling at the end of April that demanded that Germany share the burden of reducing emissions between the older and younger generations.

The Constitutional Court ruled that the country's climate protection laws were not extensive enough.

"Immediate measures" to put the legislation into effect are set to be presented in the coming weeks.

One such measure already agreed by the Cabinet is that landlords will need to bear half of the costs of emissions related to energy use at their properties.

The immediate measures come amid criticism that the new legislation contains many targets but few concrete actions to meet them.

One such critic was Annalena Baerbock, the co-leader of the Green Party. Earlier on Wednesday she described the legislation as a missed opportunity and called for a plan that lays out "honestly and clearly" what measures the government needs to take.

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