More and more wind turbines are turning in Germany. This is noticeable in the data. Minister Habeck now hopes for the first time that the climate protection schedule can be adhered to. A look at the numbers.
Surprising and good news: Greenhouse gas emissions in Germany are falling more significantly than expected. The catch: It’s mainly due to the weak economy. As the Federal Environment Agency announced on Friday, achieving the 2030 climate goals is “in sight”. “If we continue to work hard on it now and continue until 2030, climate neutrality can be achieved by 2040,” said Federal Environment Agency President Dirk Messner. The numbers show that climate protection can be successful, emphasized Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens), even if the decline in CO2 emissions can also be explained by a shrinking of energy-intensive production in Germany. STERN PAID climate tipping points 8.37
“We did not have sufficient growth in 23 due to high energy prices and the energy crisis,” said Habeck. “So it’s not something to be really proud of.” In the energy industry in particular, significantly fewer greenhouse gases were produced than in previous years. The Federal Environment Agency attributes this to a lower use of fossil fuels such as lignite, hard coal and natural gas. In addition, renewable energies were further expanded and less energy was consumed.
Significant decrease in CO2
In 2023, emissions fell by more than ten percent compared to the previous year. The energy sector in particular makes a massive contribution to the savings. CO2 emissions are also declining in industry.
In the building sector, fewer greenhouse gases were emitted due to mild weather and private energy saving measures, but the targets were slightly missed. The projections show “that the direction is right and the energy transition in the building sector has gained significant momentum,” emphasized Federal Construction Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD).
The “problem child of climate protection” remains the transport sector, said Messner. The minimal decline in this sector could only be compensated for by significantly larger declines in other areas. The development of e-mobility in particular is still lagging behind expectations, said Messner. In addition, international flights to and from Germany have returned to pre-pandemic levels.FS Climate Year 2023 in pictures – Extreme is the new normal 12/15
Habeck: “stay on course”
The projected greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 show a total decrease of almost 64 percent compared to 1990. In the 2021 report, however, only a reduction of 49 percent was expected. Habeck emphasized that Germany was “even below the targets” and called on society to “stay on track”. The expansion of renewable energies is a “success story”.
However, the latest savings as a result of the Karlsruhe budget ruling and the possible impact on climate protection measures are not yet taken into account in the projection.
Share of renewable energies is growing
The real improvement, however, is in the expected annual greenhouse gas emissions up to 2030. There are also target values for this in the Federal Climate Protection Act. According to previous calculations, a total of 1,100 million tons of CO2 equivalents were exceeded. This size is used to make different greenhouse gases comparable. The Federal Environment Agency now expects Germany to consume a total of 47 million tons less CO2 by 2030 than required by law.
The Climate Protection Ministry justifies the more positive outlook with progress in climate protection and the expansion of renewable energies. Messner said that the measures to expand renewable energies make it increasingly likely that Germany will achieve its goal of covering a total of 80 percent of its electricity consumption from wind and solar in 2030. In addition, coal is being increasingly replaced by gas, which is less harmful to the climate – last year people were even more skeptical after the “price explosion” as a result of the war in Russia.
However, the calculations are based on some assumptions that are now outdated. So only data up to October could be taken into account, as Messner said. The cuts to the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF), which is important for climate protection, which were later agreed by the traffic light coalition under austerity pressure, have not yet been taken into account. This was also pointed out by the chairman of the CDU/CSU in the Committee for Climate Protection and Energy, Thomas Gebhart (CDU), who called the projection data “unrealistic”. Habeck said about the cuts in the KTF that these primarily affected other areas such as railways and construction.
In some cases, however, the calculations are also based on less favorable assumptions about the future – at least for climate protection. The experts were still expecting economic growth of 1.4 percent for the current year. The federal government is now expecting an increase of 0.2 percent.
Source: Stern
