SPD on the environment and animal welfare

The SPD wants to move the economy to a circular model as quickly as possible, in which raw materials are reused rather than used up. It plans a state strategy, a competence center and more research funding. The party stands by growth but wants to achieve it without harm to the environment and climate.

The SPD wants raw materials to be used again and again. Waste should be reused somewhere else. This is called a circular economy. The state should have a plan and an expert center for this. The economy should still grow.

Reuse is to be considered as early as product design, manufacturing and distribution. Public procurement is to take circular products and services into account. The state wants to fund regional plans and municipal concepts, which are to be ready by 2025. The platform sees municipalities and regions as drivers of this change. The party expects skilled jobs in the circular bioeconomy from cooperation between cities and rural areas.

The SPD wants to set up a pilot project called "Climate-Neutral Consumption" to inform people about sustainable consumption. The state is to use reusable instead of single-use containers on its own premises and at its events; packaging-free shops are to get tax advantages, and supermarkets are to be required to have packaging-free sections.

The SPD wants less waste. A project should explain how to shop in a climate-friendly way. The state itself should use reusable containers. Shops without packaging should pay less tax. Supermarkets should have to offer a section without packaging.

The pilot project is meant to show citizens how they can consume sustainably. On state-owned premises and at state events, single-use waste is to be avoided and reusable containers given priority. The SPD advocates tax advantages for shops that sell only unpackaged goods. For supermarkets and discount stores, it aims for an obligation to offer packaging-free sections.

The SPD wants to limit daily land consumption in North Rhine-Westphalia to five hectares. New housing, commercial zones and bike paths are to be built mainly on already developed land within towns and on former industrial sites.

The SPD wants less open land to be built on. The limit should be five hectares a day. New homes and businesses should mostly go inside towns. Old industrial sites should be used again.

New development on open countryside is to be largely avoided. The tools named in the platform include regional planning, zoning, land law, municipal land policy, binding regional plans, cooperation between municipalities and financial incentives. A land recycling drive is meant to remove legal, economic and planning obstacles to reusing vacant and contaminated sites. Municipalities are to get instruments that let them buy and develop sites even when reuse does not pay for itself.

The SPD wants to introduce a statewide raw materials strategy and gradually reduce the extraction of gravel and sand. Recycled construction rubble is to increasingly replace them as a building material, because the platform says extraction permanently alters the landscape.

The SPD wants less gravel and sand to be dug up. There should be a plan for the whole state. Builders should reuse more old rubble. The SPD says gravel and sand will run out one day.

Economic growth and resource use are to be decoupled. Demand should no longer be calculated only from current extraction volumes. The SPD wants to invest in building-materials research and modern recycling plants, ideally at places where processing can take over from extraction. The state development plan is to be adjusted and the supply period shortened back to 20 years.

The SPD wants to work out a long-term water management plan with municipalities and the water sector. It is to include measures against heavy rain, flooding, heat and drought and secure the drinking water supply. Cities are to be redesigned along the sponge city principle.

The SPD wants a plan for water in the state. The plan should protect against floods and drought. It should also keep drinking water safe. Cities should soak up rain better. This is called a sponge city.

The plan is to follow the National Water Strategy of 2021 and record future demand, withdrawals and available supplies. The SPD wants to define who may use water for what purpose in times of scarcity, secure drinking water sources through regional planning and protect water protection areas. Groundwater withdrawal and recharge are to be newly regulated, taking floodplains and flood retention areas into account. Unsealing paved surfaces, urban greenery and restoring natural waterways are to be supported. The platform cites the flood disaster as a reason and also wants more funding for organic farming and less use of fertilizer and pesticides.

The SPD wants to carry out the goals of the Volksinitiative Artenvielfalt (citizens' initiative on biodiversity) in North Rhine-Westphalia. Its reasoning is that about 45 percent of animal and plant species in the state are endangered, threatened with extinction or already extinct.

The SPD wants to protect animals and plants better. Many species in the state are in danger. The SPD wants to carry out the goals of a citizens' initiative. One goal is a new national park in the Senne area.

The goals include a binding halt to land take, effective protection of protected areas, near-natural and wild forests, nature-friendly farming, a larger network of habitats, protection of waterways and floodplains, species protection in cities and a national park in the Senne. The species protection guideline is to be revised so that uniform criteria allow wind power expansion with legal certainty. A statewide plan is meant to keep roads and rail lines from cutting up habitats and to connect open spaces better. The SPD also wants to support hedges and field copses.

The SPD wants forests to be managed in a near-natural way so that they can withstand climate change. Forests and moors are to be restored quickly as carbon stores, and the party wants to prevent peat extraction.

The SPD wants to make forests stronger. They should cope better with heat and drought. Forests and moors store carbon. So they should become more natural again. Peat should no longer be dug up.

The platform points to damage from drought and bark beetles and sees no future for pure monocultures. Game populations are to be regulated as needed through forest-friendly hunting management. The SPD wants to provide funding for shifting forestry toward ecosystem services. For carbon sinks, the climate benefit is to take priority over extracting raw materials.

The SPD wants to push at the federal level for mandatory insurance against natural hazards. This would make property insurable even where insurers offer no coverage today and spread premiums across many policyholders. Flood protection is also to be planned faster and funded more generously.

The SPD wants mandatory insurance against damage from nature. Flood damage is one example. Then people in risky areas can also get insurance. The costs are shared by many people. Flood protection should also be built faster.

According to the platform, mandatory coverage would make premiums more affordable for everyone because many insured people share them. Planning procedures for flood protection measures are to be sped up. Plans against flooding and heavy rain, and the measures that follow from them, are to receive more public funding.