Germany, which claims to be a champion on climate change, has bowed to pressure from an industry rooted in the outdated practices of the 19th century. Its plan, agreed on March 30 2004, asks big polluters to cut their CO2 emissions by a mere 2 per cent by 2012. WWF also fears that the government will allow all new power stations to emit very high levels of CO2.

The response from Passport holders, combined with national campaigns by our WWF offices around the world, resulted in more than 16,000 messages to Germany's head of government, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. But, on this occasion, we’ve lost the fight. Germany has turned from a climate policy leader to one which openly supports new coal-fired power stations at the expense of cleaner energies.

WWF is now assessing its next actions, so we’ll keep you posted if you help is needed again.

WWF also fears that other EU countries are not on track to meet their Kyoto Protocol targets for reductions in CO2 emissions.

Lobbying by industry has also seriously weakened the National Allocation Plans of Finland and France. Greece, Spain, and Italy have yet to produce plans and WWF fears they may miss the deadline. WWF believes that in particular Italy may publish a plan which will be bad for climate protection. Draft plans from Austria, Ireland, Denmark, and the Netherlands show emissions rising rather than falling below current levels.

31 March 2004 is the deadline for all 15 EU member states to submit their plan for CO2 emissions to the European Commission as part of the Emissions Trading Directive, scheduled to start in January 2005. This directive is a key mechanism for the EU to meet its Kyoto Protocol obligations to fight global warning.

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