Germany's Dirty Little Secret

Even as Angela Merkel was busy rapping Canada's knuckles for not honoring it's commitment under Kyoto, she was busy approving new coal fired plants for her own country! Not just one or two mind you, but dozens of new coal fired plants.

It's a matter of economy and jobs and she's not prepared to sacrifice either. Here's what she says.

"The situation is threatening. There are fewer and fewer glaciers in the mountains. Storms are getting stronger," she lectures one audience. "We have to change course now," is another typical statement.

Now of course the statements are somewhat different.

But it's a different story just a few kilometers away in a decrepit industrial park in the eastern Berlin neighborhood of Lichtenberg. There, energy provider Vattenfall is planning a project that hardly seems compatible with Merkel's grand plans for saving the climate.

The chancellor is caught in the climate trap. She's presenting herself as the world's most active climate protector, both on the international stage and back home. Acting as European Council president at a summit the week before last, she won a commitment from all 27 member countries to implement a 20 percent reduction of greenhouse gases by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. Germany alone will reduce its CO2 emissions by 40 percent, if the government has its way. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has set a record by announcing a 60 percent decrease.

For Merkel, the case is clear-cut: New power plants will secure thousands of jobs in Germany. The projects resemble a giant program for the stimulation of the economy. The power plant operators plan to invest more than €30 billion ($40 billion) in construction and infrastructure.

Read the whole story here at Spiegel and see what you think. As they say, the devil is in the details...back to my knitting.