GOODER AND HARDER, GERMANY: German minister threatens ‘indefinite driving bans’ on weekends.

The federal coalition government, made up of the center-left Social Democrats, the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats, has been at odds for months over issues including a payment card for refugees, Germany’s debt brake and, lately, elephants.

The planned amendment to the emissions-reduction law allows climate goals to be reviewed for compliance by looking at all sectors together instead of individually. If the overall target is missed two years in a row, then the federal government is to decide in which sector and with which measures the permitted total amount of carbon dioxide emissions is to be achieved by 2030.

If the planned reforms are not passed through parliament by July 15, Wissing warned, the Ministry for Digital and Transport would be obliged to submit an “immediate action program that ensures compliance with the annual emission levels of the transport sector” until 2030 — which would include a driving ban on weekends.

Environmental organizations — including Greenpeace, the German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation BUND, and Fridays for Future — criticize the planned abolition of individual sector targets. They fear that an overall calculation obscures the impact of certain sectors — especially the traffic sector, which frequently doesn’t meet targets.

“This claim is simply wrong,” Green parliamentary group leader Julia Verlinden told the German Press Agency, referring to Wissing’s threat of a weekend driving ban. She added that Wissing should not aggravate people unnecessarily because there are other ways to tackle climate issues, such as a speed limit.

It’s nice to see that there are lines that the German Green party won’t (yet?) cross, but I’m not sure they’ll find many friends on the country’s autobahns if they try to impose a speed limit.