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André Winzer

Why we need to reframe the word “debt brake”

“Climate change is an existential threat to humanity, and a lack of political will and vested corporate interests are preventing us from tackling it. I worry about the future my children will inherit.”

When need becomes necessity

Need describes a particularly dire situation in which someone urgently requires help. In this case, that someone is us as a society. The Lancet Planetary Health study surveyed 10,000 children and young people between the ages of 16 and 25 in 10 countries. 75% of them are afraid of the future; 83% said that we as humans have failed to take care of our blue planet. 45% of these young people struggle with this climate anxiety in their everyday lives. These phenomena are described extensively under the terms climate anxiety, climate grief, and eco-distress.

Even if we treat these anxieties, we still won't have a blue planet or an activated community. A society cannot put ¾ of its young people on sick leave just to carry on doing nothing. It is not only young people who feel this distress and powerlessness, but also our scientists. The Guardian² surveyed 350 of these experts from the fields of atmosphere and oceans, energy and agriculture, economics and politics. What unites them all is a shared bleak outlook on the future, caused by rising temperatures.

When researchers are glad not to have any more children because they have dystopias on their minds, then it is high time to act. The images of the future they describe include famine, mass migration, conflict, war, and struggles over resources (e.g., water).

77% of the climate experts surveyed believe global warming will reach at least 2.5°C

77%

42% believe it will be more than 3°C.

42%

Distress leads to self-defense

You all know organizations like Extinction Rebellion, Fridays for Future or Letzte Generation. Under the banner “Aufstand der Letzten Generation” (Uprising of the Last Generation), Berlin and many other German cities have been brought to a standstill regularly since 2022. What unites the members is the concern that we as humans, and especially political decision-makers, are gambling away our blue planet by doing nothing.

The self-defense we are seeing irritates others. Artworks are pelted, people glue themselves to roads, airports are stormed – all to stop global warming. But our society is merely annoyed and calls for order and harsher penalties, which irritates and disturbs me. We apparently fear for our habits; we want as little change as possible. And why not? Hardly anyone is spreading a positive outlook on the future.

So that we can all go on doing nothing, we warn each other about the other side. A classic intervention/manipulation.

We are torn, misunderstood, and not united in our actions. Whether it's fear of old-age poverty, of our professional future, economic crises, climate change, or war. Do we just need to treat these “someones,” or shouldn't we as a society face the future with confidence in general? Not resist the self-defense, but let ourselves be shaken up. So that the planet and society win.

So that we don't have to stand up, we hide behind barriers like the debt brake. We'd love to do more for the climate, but unfortunately it's not possible right now. It can't be financed, some murmur. According to science, it's not about the money (only 22% see finances as a bottleneck). After all, even Extinction Rebellion (XR) was founded by the company Compassionate Revolution Ltd in the first place. The logo symbolizes how time is running out for the Earth and biodiversity. And time is ticking. How much Schaltzeit (literally: switching time) will humanity need, and how much time is left to change things?

The climate crisis is already causing profound damage. Whether it's forests drying out, changes in the Gulf Stream, or extreme weather events. Self-defense cannot and must not come only from individuals. What if the countries of our planet claim the right to act in self-defense? Will everyone then be allowed to practice geoengineering and steer clouds, water, and wind as they please? We are walking into disaster with our eyes wide open. Over the past four years, the global average temperature has been about 1.2°C above the pre-industrial average.

Some of you may think that ship has sailed. The game is over; we can't win. Let's just colonize another planet. But as of today, there simply isn't one. So should we let a term like the debt brake stop us? The whole point is wanting to achieve something!

Politicians must acknowledge society's state of emergency.

Need must lead to necessity

I believe it is our task as a society to face these perceptions and strengthen one another together. The problem is that we as a global society are not debating and not orienting ourselves toward the basics that have already been agreed upon.

The debt brake leads to a climate emergency. The IPCC's climate report shows that humans are the main driver of climate change. We have stopped the trend toward a globally cooler phase that began 6,500 years ago and have lastingly reversed it. So it is we humans who can influence weather extremes such as heat waves, heavy rainfall, and tropical cyclones. And that through our actions alone.

So if we can raise billions to cope with COVID, to mitigate the world's refugee crises, or are willing to pay for economic growth or “assisted dying” for old industries, then surely it must be possible to provide the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF) with the resources it needs.

The president of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Marcel Fratzscher, is convinced that the German state will not manage without taking on new debt. If the state sticks to an austerity budget now, he argues, the damage will be far greater than that caused by taking on new debt. “It's not the debt brake but high spending and reform fatigue that are our problem,” says Steffen Kampeter, managing director of the employers' association BDA.

What unites the two is certainly not climate anxiety, but rather concern about the economy and strengthening Germany as a business location.

I think we need to think bigger. Because of the two-thirds rule in the Bundestag, we will have to declare an emergency for several more years in order to invoke the debt brake's exception clause. Even though the term is actually “misleading.” It stands for a lack of investment in public transportation, culture, and education. It's a brake! It stands for standstill.

In other words, since there's never enough money anyway, it means standstill. That's good for those who only want to administer. Standstill is good for all those who don't want to take risks and want to cling to old structures. But standstill is not good for us. It is our downfall. Slowly at first, then exponentially.

When it comes to consumption, it's easy to get citizens excited. Buy today, because it's Singles' Day, Black Friday, Black Week, or Cyber Monday. We know that bringing purchasing decisions forward can pay off. So why don't we understand this when it comes to investments? Why don't we collectively take away our climate anxiety by turning need into necessity?

And yet it would be so easy to trigger the debt brake's emergency clause. All it takes is declaring a climate emergency.

At 66% of GDP, Germany's debt is relatively low. Our trading partners such as the UK (102%), France (112%), Japan (260%), and the USA (121%) have less financial leeway. We can afford to invest now. The EU plans to spend €1.8 trillion on the European Green Deal from 2021 to 2027. Germany accounts for about 23% of EU GDP. If the EU can invest €257 billion per year, then Germany, in line with its economic output, can invest around €60 billion of its own on top.

Let's become climate and Earth investors. Use your labor, your resources, and inspire others. Instead of luxury consumption, long-term climate investments wherever possible. Bring forward whatever you can. Learn about climate change. Plant, cultivate, and use resources carefully.

We debate.
We communicate about our actions
We act consciously.

No one should have to identify with “I’m feeling blue.” With its emergency clause, the debt brake may be particularly well suited to setting up the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF) right now and allowing citizens to participate in it.

In times of need, society comes together; we build our own emergency relief instruments to tackle the climate emergency together. True to the motto: “Release the brakes, take responsibility yourself, and draw energy from taking action.”

I'm in. Are you?

Hickman, C., Marks, E., Pihkala, P., Clayton, S., Lewandowski, R. E., Mayall, E. E., Wray, B., Mellor, C. & Van Susteren, L. (2021). Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey. The Lancet Planetary Health, 5(12), e863–e873. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2542-5196(21)00278-3; Link: Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey – The Lancet Planetary Health
‘Hopeless and broken’: why the world’s top climate scientists are in despair | Climate crisis | The Guardian