Fridays for Future: Immediate Program demands speed limit and reduction of fossil subsidies

The climate protection movement Fridays for Future has presented its own immediate action program for the transportation sector. Among other things, the youth organization is demanding a speed limit of 120 km/h on highways, the expansion of buses and trains, or bicycle infrastructure. Additionally, the authors of the paper are calling for the reduction of "fossil subsidies in transportation," such as tax benefits for company cars. The creation of "car-free city centers" is also proposed.

Specifically, FFF is also calling for the resignation of Federal Minister of Transport Volker Wissing (FDP), because he has failed to present the obligatory immediate action program for the chronically defaulting transportation sector, as mandated by the Climate Protection Act and the annually exceeded maximum CO2 emissions in 2022. Last year, the transportation sector emitted about 150 million tons of climate-damaging greenhouse gases, eleven million tons more than the allowable 139 million tons for the year. FFF lawyer Caroline Douhaire spoke of a "breach of the law."

"Both sectors have missed the climate protection targets and now must mandatorily take corrective action, but at the same time, neither ministry is doing exactly that," said Pit Terjung of "Fridays for Future," who also referred to the equally defaulting building sector.