FDP on the environment and animal welfare

The FDP wants to promote a circular economy that goes beyond today's recycling and plans for reuse already at the product design stage. It justifies this with rising material prices as well as climate protection and security of raw material supply.

The FDP wants companies to use materials more than once. Reuse should be planned when a product is designed. This protects the climate. It also makes raw materials safer and more affordable.

According to the platform, the recent rise in prices for materials and intermediate products shows that secondary raw materials are becoming more important. The Circular Valley in Wuppertal and company initiatives within the IN4climate think tank are to serve as starting points for a statewide rollout. The party sees industry as the engine and problem solver that develops modern technologies, processes and products.

The FDP wants to review technical flood protection and create more areas where water can spread out. Warning systems should also work during power outages.

Heavy rain can cause floods. The FDP wants more land where water has room. Warning people should work even without electricity. The federal government and the states should cooperate better in emergencies.

According to the platform, dams and retention basins reach their limits in extreme weather, and smaller rivers have received too little attention. Riverbank strips are to stay unfarmed, retention areas upgraded or newly created, and floodplains reactivated. More humus in farming and forestry is meant to let soil hold more water. Hazard and risk maps are to be revised. The federal and state governments are to expand cooperation so equipment and specialists are quickly available during floods.

The FDP wants to introduce certificate trading through which municipalities trade rights to designate building land. Compensation measures for land use are to be better coordinated, and brownfield sites made usable again.

Land is scarce. The FDP wants certificates for new building land. Cities and towns can trade them with each other. Old industrial sites should be used again.

Municipalities would need certificates when turning outlying areas into building land; "white certificates" would be issued for building land that is withdrawn. Trading in compensation areas is also to be developed further to speed up projects. Central coordination offices are to carry out compensation measures more effectively. For ecologically useful projects such as bike paths, the FDP seeks an exemption from the compensation requirement. Cleanup of contaminated sites, unsealing of surfaces and land recycling are to open former mining and industrial sites for new use.

The FDP wants to improve air quality through new drive systems, more greenery and smart traffic systems. Limit values are to be reviewed scientifically on a regular basis, and measuring stations are to deliver reliable readings.

The air should get cleaner. The FDP relies on new kinds of engines for vehicles. More greenery should help too. Experts should check the pollution limits regularly.

The platform relies on a mix of low-emission technologies in transportation. Green hydrogen in particular is to be used more. Public bodies are to lead by example and choose innovative drive systems when buying new vehicles. The FDP says measuring stations should deliver realistic and robust data.

The FDP wants more reforestation, protection of existing forests and rewetting of peatlands. Such natural carbon sinks are to be included in emissions trading so that preserving them pays off.

Forests and peatlands store CO2. The FDP wants to plant more trees and protect forests. Dried-out peatlands should become wet again. Those who create such stores should gain from emissions trading.

Protection is to apply in the state and worldwide, for example by preserving rainforests. Net forest loss is to be condemned internationally. Besides reforestation, the platform names agroforestry and rewetting as ways to limit global warming. The FDP also sees forests and peatlands as guardians of biodiversity.

The FDP wants to improve existing nature reserves before designating new ones. It rejects national parks created against the wishes of local residents, in particular one in the Senne region. There it favors a shared land-use plan instead.

The FDP wants to improve nature reserves that already exist. This should come before creating new ones. The FDP does not want a national park in the Senne region. Instead, everyone involved should agree on a shared plan.

The FDP argues that land already under protection still offers a lot of room for species conservation, so improving it should take priority over new reserves. Biodiversity monitoring is to be expanded using digital data collection and the help of hunters. The platform sees a Senne national park as harmful because usage restrictions would endanger the cultural landscape. Instead, one plan should reconcile conservation, the interests of residents and municipalities, the British forces, tourism and the Bundeswehr base in Augustdorf.

The FDP wants to support forest owners and the forestry sector with reforestation and pest control so that forests recover from drought, storms and bark beetles. Agriculture and forestry are to be included in the EU emissions trading system. Citizens should be able to take part, for example through community forests.

Many forests were damaged by drought, storms and beetles. The FDP wants to help forest owners. New trees should be planted. Forests should become part of emissions trading. That is a market for permits to emit greenhouse gases.

The platform calls forests one of the most important factors for climate and biodiversity. Reforestation and pest control are seen as central to making native forests fit for the future. New incentives are meant to strengthen forests as habitats and carbon stores and to open up land for reforestation. To that end, the EU emissions trading system (ETS) would be extended to agriculture and forestry, alongside participation models such as community forests (Bürgerwälder).

The FDP wants to prepare large cities for summer heat by expanding water features and green spaces. This includes storing water under the sponge-city approach as well as green roofs and facades. Municipalities are to receive support for this.

Big cities get very hot in summer. The FDP wants more water and more green space in cities. Cities should store rainwater. Roofs and walls should get plants too. The state should help cities do this.

Besides water features in parks, the platform relies on new water management, with the sponge city, meaning storing rainwater within the urban area, as one building block. Incentives are also to encourage private water storage. Additional green spaces, upgrades to existing ones, and green roofs and facades are meant to provide cooling.

The FDP wants to strengthen the circular economy and favors recycling over product bans. Plastics recycling is to be expanded, including through chemical processes. Collection containers for small electrical devices and metals are to be set up statewide.

The FDP wants waste to become new raw materials. It does not want to ban products. Instead, more should be recycled. There should be containers for recyclables all over the state. People can drop off small electrical devices and metal there.

The platform justifies this with the Paris climate targets, which it says require more economical use of resources. New methods such as chemical recycling of packaging are meant to increase the amount of recycled material. It says collection of recyclables has so far been handled differently from region to region and should become more efficient. The planned containers would work the way glass collection containers do.