"We have greenwashing behind us, we will put an end to it now"

WELT "We have greenwashing behind us, we will put an end to it now" Philipp Vetter • 5 hours • 5 minutes reading time The Bundestag is debating the alleged fraud scandal involving fake climate protection projects abroad. While the SPD and the Greens are trying to downplay the political dimension, the Union is taking a particularly close look at one minister. There are also critical voices from the traffic light coalition. Minister Steffi Lemke was sharply criticized in a current affairs hour in the Bundestag. It is the last item on the agenda of the German Bundestag's session week, but the topic could hardly be more serious: In a current affairs hour on Friday afternoon, parliament will be dealing with the alleged systematic fraud involving climate protection projects in China in front of almost empty rows. But some of the few remaining MPs are clearly already thinking about the end of the day: "I wish us all a nice European Championship," says Sebastian Roloff (SPD) after a speech in which he tries to downplay the political dimension of the alleged CO₂ fraud scandal. His parliamentary colleague Mathias Stein also hopes for "many goals from our national team". Instead of talking about football, there are a few things that need to be clarified: As was revealed a few days ago, German drivers have paid hundreds of millions of euros in fuel taxes that were supposed to go to alleged climate protection projects in China that never existed. Actually, oil companies should be able to reduce their greenhouse gas quota by investing in projects abroad that reduce CO₂ in their supply chain. The system is called "Upstream Emissions Reduction" - UER for short. Does the shift to the right and the Greens' election defeat mean the end of the Green Deal? These alleged climate protection projects abroad were verified and certified by German companies - but more than half of the 75 approved projects are now considered to be at least questionable. The Federal Environment Agency (UBA), which is responsible for the control, received the first indications of the possible fraud in August last year. The Environment Ministry of Steffi Lemke (Greens), to which the UBA reports, has since admitted this. But then almost nothing happened for months. It was not until February that an amendment to the relevant regulation was introduced, abolishing the UER system early at the end of the year; it was actually supposed to run until the end of 2026. The amendment and abolition were not passed until May, however, when the first media began researching the allegations of fraud. The Berlin public prosecutor's office was also contacted by the UBA just a few days ago. Christian Hirte (CDU) calls the behavior of the ministry and the UBA the "second scandal" alongside the actual fraud. "Not enough action was taken." "When you googled the geodata, you could have noticed that there was only desert or a chicken coop there," says the MP. Climate protection project in China was a chicken coop In fact, ZDF research had shown that an alleged climate protection project in China actually had a chicken coop. Hirte is demanding that the Environment Minister finally explain when she personally found out about the alleged mass fraud. When asked, the ministry told WELT AM SONNTAG that the UBA did not inform them until October 11, 2023 - months after the first indications in August. But even then it took several more months before the early stop and a report to the public prosecutor's office were initiated. Hirte criticizes the authority and the ministry only took action as a result of the media reports. The environmental policy spokeswoman for the Union parliamentary group, Anja Weisgerber (CSU), once again took aim at Minister Lemke personally: she must finally clarify the events and no longer hide behind the UBA. The term UER no longer stands for climate protection projects, but for "unbelievable, simple-minded and helpless", which is how the minister dealt with the scandal. "It is unbelievable how long it took for the UBA to take action," said Weisgerber. It was only after eight months that noticeable consequences were drawn. Instead, the Federal Environment Agency should have redeployed staff early on and intensified controls. "Ms. Lemke, Mr. Messner, the impression is that you don't have your business under control," she said, addressing the minister and UBA President Dirk Messner. Her parliamentary colleague Christoph Ploß (CDU) accused the traffic light coalition of endangering people's support for climate protection with its policies. "You are squandering German taxpayers' money on cycle paths in Peru instead of investing it in hydrogen infrastructure here," he said. "If you want to do something to stop people from wanting to protect the climate, then you have to do politics like that."