FILE - In this Oct. 1, 2021, file photo, a power plant fires coal from the nearby Garzweiler open-cast mine near Luetzerath, western Germany. Dozens of large German companies have urged the country's next government to put in place ambitious policies to meet the goals of the Paris climate accord.
The 69 companies said in an open letter Monday that the next government needs to put Germany “on a clear and reliable path to climate neutrality” with a plan for doing so within its first 100 days in office.The center-left Social Democrats narrowly beat outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Union bloc in anlast month. The Social Democrats were meeting Monday with the environmentalist Greens party and the pro-business Free Democrats to discuss forming a coalition government.
Earlier this year, Merkel's government adopted a plan to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions to “net zero” by 2045, five years earlier than previously planned.