Editorial

Can a country be part of a High Ambition Coalition and repeatedly refuse to support its demands? Germany can. At the pre-COP, the preparatory meeting prior to COP28, the German government did not support a decision by the coalition of climate frontrunners regarding the phase-out of fossil fuels, as Bernhard Pötter reports. At nearly the same time, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner wants to put a stop to the coal phase-out by 2030 – which was, after all, envisaged in the government’s coalition agreement. And Olaf Scholz campaigns for gas imports in Nigeria. A frontrunner role looks different.