Germany: Merkel unveils government's multibillion climate protection plan

M/S German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other officials entering news conference room, Berlin
W/S Merkel and officials getting on stage
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W/S Press conference
SOT, Angela Merkel, German Chancellor (German): "I think we are challenged, in particular regarding all the young people around the world who are demanding, and rightly so, that we do something for them to have good chances in life. And as a scientist, I can say that what impresses me, is when Greta Thunberg says: "Unite behind the science." We're not doing something ideological here. We are doing something for which there is massive evidence that we have to act against it. Those who ignore this scientific evidence saying "We're going to make it somehow" are not acting with awareness of the future which we did."
W/S Press conference
W/S Journalists
SOT, Angela Merkel, German Chancellor (German): "That's the difference between politics and science and also impatient young people. Politics is what's possible and we have scouted these possibilities with different starting points and different focuses of our work. For me it is very important that through the document that we are presenting to you today, you can see that we believe that we can reach the goals and that we laid the foundations for it and that we have the mechanisms for it."
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SOT, Angela Merkel, German Chancellor (German): "Often this is viewed as a number of stand-alone measures and I clearly disagree. Because, in the sectors that we haven't reached our [2007 climate] goals [for 2020] - these are in the sectors of buildings and traffic - we have approaches and incentives for people to behave more eco-friendly. The sum of these measures will support the price signal, leading us onto a path where people will change their behaviour step by step without renouncing prosperity but rather through connecting social market economy with the ecological factor."
M/S Merkel Merkel and other officials
SOT, Olaf Scholz, German Vice-Chancellor and Finance Minister (German): "We are serious about the climate protection package now. We go on a new way encompassing many aspects, in particular massive investments into climate protection. Until 2023 alone, we are talking about 54 billion euros. That's a large amount. And we think that it will help a lot in this respect, enabling us to bring many things on their way for socially-balanced climate protection."
M/S Logo of 'Climate Protection Programme 2030'
M/S Merkel
W/S End of press conference
SCRIPT
The German government unveiled its climate protection plan until 2030 in Berlin on Friday at a presentation taking place against the backdrop of massive protests on the issue across the globe.
The programme would see around 54 billion euros ($59 billion) allocated to climate protection projects until 2023.
"As a scientist, I can say that what impresses me, is when Greta Thunberg says: "Unite behind the science." We're not doing something ideological here. We are doing something for which there is massive evidence that we have to act against it. Those who ignore this scientific evidence saying "We're going to make it somehow" are not acting with awareness of the future, which we did," said Merkel.
The climate action plan will reportedly include 70 different projects and monitoring missions regarding construction, traffic and agriculture.