PdF on the environment and animal welfare

The PdF wants to advance the shift to an economy that reuses raw materials and avoids waste. This includes a comprehensive right to repair, recycling quotas, minimum product lifespans and tax advantages for resource-saving businesses.

The PdF wants less to be thrown away. Raw materials should be used longer. This is called a circular economy. Customers should be able to get devices repaired. Manufacturers should offer spare parts at fair prices.

The PdF welcomes the EU's right-to-repair measures and demands their implementation; companies that deliberately make repairs harder would face penalties. The plan includes binding quotas for recycled material, minimum lifespans and sustainable public procurement. Companies would have to disclose the material composition and recyclability of their products. A digital price monitoring office would detect unfair practices and warn about excessive prices. Businesses that produce sustainably would get tax advantages, and investment programs are planned for circular-economy start-ups.

The PdF wants to link protected areas through green corridors and reduce pesticide use. Farmers are to receive incentives for biodiversity-friendly practices, and cities are to run their own programs for more nature.

Many animals and plants are under threat. The PdF wants to connect protected areas with each other. Farmers should use fewer chemicals against pests. Cities should plant wildflower meadows.

The platform states that the number of flying insects has fallen by about 75 percent. Habitat networks are to connect isolated nature reserves so species can adapt to changing conditions. Incentive programs are meant to help farmers switch to biodiversity-friendly methods. Renaturation projects and wildflower meadows are planned for cities.

The PdF wants to support greening of roofs and facades with government grants, without rents going up. Cities are also to create connected green spaces to improve air quality, the local climate and biodiversity.

The PdF wants more plants in cities. The state should give money for green roofs and walls. Rents should not go up because of this. Cities should create larger green areas.

According to the platform, a lack of green space leads to poor air and higher temperatures, especially during heat waves. Grants and financial incentives are meant to get owners to add greenery. The PdF cites the KLIMOPASS program in Baden-Württemberg as a model for a nationwide approach. Nature-oriented urban planning also includes community gardens and urban farming projects.

The PdF wants to preserve forests, reforest new areas, and promote tree species that cope better with climate change. The platform justifies this with the role of forests as carbon stores and their importance for water balance and biodiversity.

The PdF wants to protect forests. New trees should be planted. These trees should cope well with heat and dry weather. Forests store the gas CO₂ and are home to many animals.

The platform calls for promoting climate-resilient tree species so forests can withstand higher temperatures and changed rainfall. It adds reforestation programs and protection of existing woodland. The aim is for forests to keep absorbing CO₂ and serving as habitat.

The PdF wants to phase out environmentally harmful fishing methods such as bottom trawling in marine protected areas by 2030 at the latest. Strict monitoring is meant to ensure that fishing rules are followed.

The PdF wants to protect the seas. Some nets are dragged along the sea floor. That harms nature. In protected areas, these nets should be banned by 2030. The state should check fishing strictly.

The platform points out that overfishing and harmful fishing methods endanger marine ecosystems. The ban is to come in stages and apply fully by 2030 at the latest. The PdF also calls for effective monitoring so that rules are obeyed and marine biodiversity is preserved.

The PdF wants to end practices such as tethering after binding transition periods and give financial support to farms with animal-friendly housing. An animal welfare label on products is meant to create transparency.

The PdF wants farm animals to live better. Bad ways of keeping animals should end after a fixed deadline. Farms that treat animals well should get money. Products should show how the animals lived.

In the platform's view, livestock farming often fails to meet modern welfare standards, and farmers lack incentives to switch. The PdF demands consistent enforcement of existing EU animal welfare rules. A welfare label is meant to reward voluntary improvements. Old domestic breeds such as Heidschnucke sheep are to be preserved. The party rejects genetic engineering of animals.

The PdF wants to manage wildlife populations through targeted hunting to curb disease, overpopulation, and invasive species. At the same time, zoos and circuses are to face stricter rules on keeping wild animals.

The PdF wants hunters to hunt wild animals in a targeted way. This should keep diseases from spreading. There should also not be too many animals. Zoos and circuses should follow stricter rules. Animals there should live close to nature.

The platform justifies hunting with preserving ecological balance and the consequences of unchecked reproduction. It demands tougher requirements for zoos and circuses. Large animals and other wildlife there should be kept in species-appropriate, near-natural conditions.

The PdF wants a legal ban on breeding that serves only appearance and damages the animals' health. The pet trade is to be monitored more strictly and made fully traceable.

Some animals are bred only to look a certain way. This makes them sick. The PdF wants to ban that. The pet trade should be checked strictly. People should always know where an animal comes from.

According to the platform, the unregulated pet trade often leads to abuse and poor living conditions. The PdF therefore demands tougher checks and complete tracing of animals in the trade. It says politics bears responsibility for the relationship between people and animals.

The PdF wants to push back animal testing through stricter laws and replace it entirely in the long run. To that end it calls for major investment in animal-free research methods.

The PdF wants fewer tests on animals. Later there should be none at all. The state should spend a lot of money on other methods. Examples are computer models or tests with human cells.

The platform calls animal testing ethically contested and of limited scientific value, saying up to 92 percent of drugs that succeed in animals fail in clinical trials. As alternatives it names in vitro methods, computer models, and human cell cultures. Policymakers should also remove systemic barriers to animal-free research.

The PdF wants to prohibit the fur trade entirely because, in its view, it involves great animal suffering. In the leather industry, the whole animal should be used to avoid waste.

The PdF wants to ban the trade in fur. It says animals suffer a lot for fur. For leather, the whole animal should be used. That way less is wasted.

The platform considers fur in fashion and the practices of the leather sector no longer ethically or ecologically acceptable. For leather it demands a focus on sustainability. In addition, the housing and training of sport and working animals such as horses or protection dogs should be adapted to their natural behavior.

The PdF wants to base catch quotas on scientific data and set up protected areas in the North Sea and Baltic Sea to prevent overfishing. Coastal fishers would receive financial help, mainly for switching to gentler fishing methods.

There are fewer and fewer fish in the seas. The PdF wants to set catch limits based on science. The North Sea and Baltic Sea should get protected areas. Coastal fishers should get money.

The program names overfishing, shrinking stocks especially in the Baltic Sea, plastic waste and climate change as threats to the seas. Quotas would be reviewed regularly and adjusted to ecological conditions. Protected zones are meant to preserve endangered species and sensitive habitats and let stocks recover. Sustainable aquaculture would be supported to relieve wild fish while still meeting demand. Aid for coastal fishers is meant to spare the environment and keep the fishing industry economically viable.