Environmental groups are demanding that the German government should not cut funding for efforts to address climate change amid tough negotiations over a reduced 2025 budget.

Several large advocacy groups published a joint appeal on Friday urging Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck not to allow the cutbacks.

They said this was based on “necessary investments in greenhouse gas neutrality” and international funding for climate initiatives.

They argued that making investments now would prove to be far cheaper than the eventual cost of failing to address climate change.

The letter was signed by the leaders of the German League for Nature and Environment (DNR) and the German Association for Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND).

The Environmental Action Germany (DUH), Germanwatch, Greenpeace Germany and the Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) are all parts.

Mr Scholz’s three-party coalition is locked in difficult negotiations over the 2025 draft government budget, which included deep proposed cuts at several ministries to address large budget shortfalls.

Finance minister Christian Lindner, a leader of the pro-business liberal Free Democrats (FDP), has insisted that the government must follow strict rules against borrowing and deficit spending.

“The current negotiations for the 2025 federal budget will not only decide whether social cohesion can be maintained. They will also decide whether Germany can achieve its climate targets, which are binding under international law,” the letter said.

The letter also criticised the tight budget restrictions, arguing that failing to make “necessary investments in the climate-neutral transition” now would endanger Germany’s economy.

(dpa/NAN)