The government's climate goals: The CDU, the climate and air traffic

CDU wants to strengthen air traffic More domestic flights, less CO2 - does that work together? As of: October 21, 2026 • 9:25 a.m

The CDU wants to strengthen air traffic within Germany. The following applies: Short-haul flights are particularly harmful to the climate per kilometer - the take-off causes a large part of the emissions. How does this fit with Germany’s climate goals?

The horror was written all over his face when the Chancellor visited the North Rhine-Westphalian community of Hürtgenwald in August. The forest burned here for days - an ecological catastrophe. Friedrich Merz said: "What happened here is climate change. We will do everything we can to push back climate change."

This promise is still well remembered by many people - including environmental and climate protectors. Some of them are all the more perplexed when it comes to one of the CDU Presidium's recent decisions: Air traffic within Germany should be strengthened.

Jens Hilgenberg, head of transport policy at the German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND), can only shake his head: short flights are particularly harmful to the climate in relation to the kilometers flown. "The shorter the route in air traffic, the worse, because the greatest consumption and the greatest CO2 emissions occur during the take-off process."

Actually, rail traffic should be so good that air traffic within Germany can be made superfluous, says Hilgenberg. “But unfortunately that is not the case yet. And it will probably take a few more years. We should put all our energy into it now,” demands the environmentalist.

The cost of air travel in Germany has recently risen sharply - but the trend is not new. more

But the CDU presidium's proposals are not entirely new. The federal government decided last year to make Germany more competitive as an aviation location.

Among other things, with two measures: reducing the air traffic control fees that airlines incur when taking off and landing and the air traffic tax that is charged per ticket. Both fees and taxes have already been reduced this year. However, they are still high in international comparison.

That's why the Federal Government's Tourism Commissioner, Christoph Ploß, believes: The costs of flying must continue to fall. He points to declining numbers. Since 2019, not only has the number of passengers and flights within Germany fallen by around half. Routes have also been canceled or thinned out, most recently between Münster/Osnabrück and Frankfurt or between Düsseldorf and Leipzig.

The CDU politician says: "If flight connections at German airports are canceled, then that is not only bad for the local airports and because jobs will be lost there, but it also damages Germany as a business location and of course Germany as a tourism location."

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That's why Ploß, just like airlines and now also the CDU presidium, is calling for the costs of flights in Germany to be further reduced, i.e. to further reduce air traffic taxes and airport security fees.

When asked by the ARD capital studios, the Federal Ministry of Transport said that the proposals would be carefully examined. The federal government's goal is efficient and competitive air transport in Germany.

However: Germany has also committed itself to meeting climate targets. Emissions must therefore be significantly reduced, including in transport. The spokeswoman for the Ministry of Transport sees no contradiction. Aviation makes its contribution to climate protection.

The CDU politician Christoph Ploß says: "It doesn't make much sense to say that we are unilaterally increasing the location costs here in Germany and are even happy when flight connections are canceled because the aircraft are then used somewhere else, either in other European countries or in Asia, for example." This will not save the climate.

Instead, the federal government's tourism advisor and the Ministry of Transport are relying on more climate-friendly aircraft fuels in the medium term.

Jens Hilgenberg from BUND also believes the development of more climate-friendly fuel is necessary. In order to be able to travel with lower emissions in places where air traffic really won't work in the future. However, so far there has been a lack of pressure on airlines to invest. "This is the only way air traffic can ever become more climate-friendly. We have to slowly get our feet wet."

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This topic in the program: tagesschau.de | Merz, the CDU, the climate and air traffic | Oct 20, 2026 | 7:25 p.m