12 Nov
Government divisions over approach to climate change plan are bridged, but targets will be reviewed in 2018 to consider their impact on industry
Lightning strikes behind wind turbines during a thunderstorm near the border between Germany and Poland. Photograph: Florian Gaertner/Getty Images
Germany’s coalition government has reached an agreement on a climate change action plan which involves reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 to 95% by 2050, a spokesperson said on Friday.
The plan, which will require German industry to reduce its CO2 emission by a fifth by 2030, and Germany’s energy sector to reduce emissions by almost a half, will be reviewed in 2018 with a view to its impact on jobs and society.
“Especially the sector targets, included in the climate protection plan, will be subject to a comprehensive impact assessment,” government spokesperson Georg Streiter said at a news conference. He said the government agreed that the reduction targets could be adjusted in 2018.
The last-minute breakthrough spares the German government some blushes for its representatives at next week’s high level segment of the Marrakech climate change conference , where pressure on Germany to show global leadership have increased after Donald Trump’s victory in the US elections.
Germany’s environment minister Barbara Hendricks first presented a list of ambitious CO2 reduction targets for various economic sectors in 2015. But proposals had subsequently become bogged down by special pleading from ministers in her own governing coalition, especially the conservative-run ministries for agriculture and transport.
Even Social Democrat leader and deputy chancellor Sigmar Gabriel had until recently vetoed the plans, expressing concerns that a phase-out of brown coal, which causes the highest CO2 emissions per ton when burned, could lead to large-scale job losses in affected regions.
According to Reuters, the final plan contains lower reduction targets for power plants than proposed in earlier drafts. A call for introducing a minimum price for pollution certificates in the European Union’s carbon trading scheme was also reportedly scrapped.
More than 10,000 have signed up for a Saturday march from New York’s Union Square to Trump Tower, as unrest continues following his victory
Thousands have taken to the streets across the country in the days since Donald Trump was elected president. Photograph: Stephen Lovekin/REX/Shutterstock
Protesters across the US were gearing up on Friday for weekend demonstrations over the election of Donald Trump, as other activists began work on plans to disrupt the Republican’s inauguration in Washington early next year.
Rowdy protests against Trump and his divisive campaign have spread to cities all over the country following his victory on Tuesday, leading to dozens of arrests and a complaint from Trump in one of his first public remarks as president-elect.
More than 10,000 people have signed up to attend a noon march on Saturday from New York’s Union Square to Trump Tower, the future president’s home and corporate headquarters, while several other actions are planned for other cities.
“Join us in the streets! Stop Trump and his bigoted agenda,” the organizers of the New York event said in a Facebook post.
Trump complained in a tweet late on Thursday that “professional protesters, incited by the media” were tarnishing his electoral success, which he said was “very unfair”. Amid intense criticism, Trump said hours later in a second post that he appreciated the “passion for our great country” shown by demonstrators.
Activists expressed determination to build momentum for major activity on 20 January, when Trump will officially enter the White House.
A “million women” march on the capital is being planned for the day of Trump’s inauguration, amid intense anger that the next US president allegedly sexually assaulted multiple women and boasted of doing so in a leaked recording.
Leftwing and anarchist groups were also making plans for protests in Washington on inauguration day, according to flyers circulating online, raising the prospect of chaotic scenes as Trump takes the oath of office.
Other activists were biding their time before mounting a response to Trump’s election. Patrisse Cullors, one of the founders of Black Lives Matter, said their movement was “grieving and mourning” following the result.
“We are bringing folks together to imagine what kinds of organizing we will need to do under a Trump presidency,” said Cullors. “I do think we can organize as we have been, and build something bigger and stronger than the
Thousands of people take to the streets of American cities for another night of demonstrations against the election of Republican Donald Trump. In Portland police used teargas against crowds again, while police closely escorted people in Philadelphia and Miami
Thousands take to the streets of American cities for a second time to demonstrate against the President-elect, Donald Trump. Protests in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Dallas, Portland, Oakland, Baltimore and Atlanta expressed their anger with the result of the 2016 presidential election. In Portland police used teargas against protesters
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‘People are angry. For years, the Democrats haven’t offered a counter narrative.’
Raúl M Grijalva, Bakari T Sellers, Zephyr Teachout, Stephanie Taylor, Ilya Sheyman
Representative Raúl M Grijalva: ‘Middle-of-the-road thinking has overstayed its welcome’
The future of the Democratic party begins with cleaning house at the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Without a dynamic progressive committed to a year-round 50-state strategy leading our party – and a DNC staff committed to humble outreach and genuine advocacy for peoples’ needs – we are doomed to repeats of 8 November .
Hillary Clinton’s platform may have been the most progressive in American history, but the American people felt it wasn’t enough to have a good plan on paper. We now have the chance to build a DNC that truly, wholeheartedly supports that platform and turns it into our party’s guiding principles.
Whoever our next leader is, the middle-of-the-road thinking and don’t-rock-the-boat strategies that have defined the top levels of Democratic politics have overstayed their welcome, both with the party faithful and with the country as a whole.
We cannot rely on the same tired, inside-the-Beltway social media messages and stale talking points that got us here. Nor can we fall for the dangerous notion that if only she’d talked more about privatizing social security, Hillary Clinton might have won over more moderate voters. There is no evidence that such triangulation has any credibility with the American people, and our party needs to recognize that once and for all.
If Donald Trump’s unusual ideology has taught us anything, it’s that many of the political fights ahead of us have nothing to do with the arguments of the past 20 years. Party leaders need to recruit candidates with a genuine understanding of the issues that matter today, from economic insecurity to the future of rural America to social justice to education affordability.
We need to work with grassroots organizations to build a fresh party for the future. Just putting fresh paint on the party that lost the White House is not an option………………….
Stephanie Taylor: ‘We must follow the lead of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren’
When you drive through the Rust Belt states that handed Donald Trump the presidency – states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – you see a people in profound economic crisis. The only jobs are low-paid retail jobs at Walmart or the Dollar Store, or if you are really lucky, a job at the local hospital. The costs of healthcare and childcare are skyrocketing. Credit cards are maxed out, and college is a pipe dream. The epidemic of drug addiction is destroying whole families. Meanwhile, no one pays.
In the foreclosure crisis 10 years ago, the banks seized millions of homes, and no one ever went to jail for it. Corporations can break laws, move their plants to China, lay everyone off and get away with it.
Of course people are angry. For years, the Democrats haven’t offered a counter narrative. They haven’t said: “These are the villains – the corporations like the pharmaceutical industry, the health insurance industry, big agribusiness and telecom. And here is what we’re going to do about it.”
Democrats, by and large, haven’t been willing to take on corporate power in a real way. They haven’t offered a systemic critique of the
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The week in wildlife – in pictures
Italy’s hedgehog hospital, starlings in flight and a comical fox are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
Eric Hilaire
The Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2016 overall winner and ‘On the land’ category winner: Angela Bohlke’s image of a fox face planting in the snow in Yellowstone national park, US
Photograph: Angela Bohlke/Barcroft Images
A red squirrel in the the snow on the Weardale Moors, Northumberland. New research has found leprosy in red squirrels across the British Isles
Photograph: Alec Jones/Rex/Shutterstock
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