German government climate advisers and the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) have revealed that the country’s goal to reduce greenhouse emissions by 65% by 2030 is unlikely to be achieved. This also casts a shadow on the prospect of Germany becoming climate neutral by 2045.
The EU has sought to be a leader in climate action and Germany has set even more ambitious targets than the bloc as a whole. However, due to the economic crisis and other political issues, the climate crisis has been pushed down the agenda in many countries.
Although Germany has already managed to reduce its CO2 levels by 40% compared to 1990, this is not enough to reach the target. Hans-Martin Henning, Chairman of the council of climate experts that advises the government, said: “The expected overall reduction is probably overestimated.”
To bridge the gap, the government has ordered 130 measures in various sectors. However, the buildings and transport sectors have not implemented them as needed. The buildings sector is expected to be 35 million tonnes of CO2 short of target by 2030 and the transport sector is expected to have excess emissions of between 117 million and 191 million tonnes compared with the government target.
The two reports make it clear that Germany needs to take more decisive action to achieve its climate goals.
