The climate policy spokeswoman for the Union parliamentary group in the German Bundestag, Anja Weisgerber, has accused the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) of not having detected the fraud surrounding fake climate protection projects in China in time.
“Faulty certifications and sloppy controls by German authorities have not only caused horrendous financial damage, but also a massive loss of trust in climate protection projects abroad,” Weisgerber told WELT AM SONNTAG: “Chicken coops instead of efficient gas boilers – this is just one of many examples of climate protection projects in China that do not actually exist, but which are counted towards the greenhouse gas reduction quota.”
The Union’s rapporteur for environmental law, Christian Hirte, also attributed responsibility for the scandal to Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens): “The Federal Environment Agency and the Federal Environment Ministry have completely failed,” said Hirte: “UBA President Messner and the responsible minister Lemke have either tacitly accepted these conditions or they have not got their own business under control.”
The fraud case is “not a matter of peanuts, but of billions of dollars in damage,” said the Union politician: “If it turns out that President Messner and Minister Lemke cannot fully clarify the matter, they will have to face the question of whether they are the right people for this task.”
In a specialist discussion of the Union in the German Bundestag last Thursday, representatives of the ADAC, the Farmers’ Association and the biofuel industry also accused the Federal Environment Agency and the German Emissions Trading Authority (DEHST) of not having responded to warnings from the industry for months.
It involves around 75 climate protection projects, mainly in China, with which mineral oil companies can meet part of their greenhouse gas quota in Germany. According to research by German bioenergy companies, which was verified on site by the ZDF magazine “Frontal21”, many of the alleged climate protection projects in China do not even exist. The Capital Office for Bioenergy, an interest group for the industry, estimates the damage to the German climate protection sector in the transport sector at 4.5 billion euros.
German certification offices are apparently involved in the proceedings. UBA President Dirk Messner said at the hearing in the Bundestag that he believes there is a “network of fraud”. His agency has now contacted the public prosecutor’s office and the Foreign Office and asked Chinese authorities for administrative assistance. His agency has “reached the limits” of its internal capabilities for the checks. That is why a law firm is now being brought in to investigate the allegations of fraud.