Thursday

8th Jun 2023

Environment minister: Germany will likely miss climate targets

  • "2022 will be one of the most exhausting years this ministry has experienced in a long time,” co-leader and economy and environment minister Robert Habeck said. (Photo: EPA)
Listen to article

In the coming two years, Germany will likely miss its climate targets, economy and environment minister Robert Habeck told Die Zeit newspaper on Wednesday (29 December).

"We will probably miss our targets for 2022. And for 2023, it will also be difficult enough. We are starting with a severe backlog," he said.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"2022 will be one of the most exhausting years this ministry has experienced in a long time," he added.

The country's first national climate law, passed in 2019 and amended in 2021, states annual reduction targets for individual sectors such as industry and transport until 2030.

These are set in line with the European reduction plans. EU climate legislation will receive an overhaul in the next two years, but under current effort-sharing regulations Germany will need to reduce emissions more than most other EU countries.

The EU's biggest economy will need to cut industry emissions to 177m tonnes of CO2 in 2022, down 38 percent compared to 1990.

Transport should be reduced by 15 percent from 1990.

That's another 6m tonnes in this year alone in a sector that until recently was unable to reduce emissions in Germany and has grown over the years in the EU; climate policy notwithstanding.

The number of wind turbines being built will also have to radically increase, Habeck said. From 450 in the previous years to 1,500 annually.

As part of the climate law, the government aims to meet 80 percent of the power demand in the country with renewables. To build this amount of windmills, 2 percent of its land surface will have to be reserved.

Finding the right place for onshore wind farms is often slow and challenging, but the government aims to have laws on accelerating the approval process.

In its last session before the summer recess, the German parliament passed a bill that amends the federal Climate Action Law after a top court ruled it insufficient.

The law states that if a target is missed, the difference will need to be spread out evenly over the remaining years.

The first benchmark is 2030, with new targets set for 2040 and 2045. And the law stipulates targets can be raised, but cannot be lowered.

The new coalition government, led by social democrat Olaf Scholz, which includes the German Greens and the liberal FDP, has already presented plans to step up government action.

Although details are forthcoming, deep reforms are needed in almost all sectors of the economy, ranging from the utility sector, manufacturing, industry, buildings, agriculture, and transportation.

Analysis

Are nuclear and gas green? Depends if you ask EU or experts

The taxonomy for sustainable activities was meant to be a purely science-based classification system - but it has become bogged down by political infighting (not least between Paris and Berlin), threatening its credibility.

Opinion

Where Germany's Greens and FDP will collide on environment

The Greens and the FDP disagree on major political issues. While they both support the climate battle, their ways of ushering change are vastly different: the Greens advocate tougher environmental laws and regulations, and the FDP calls for market-based solutions.

Germany tells France: 'nuclear is not green'

The new German government will not support French plans to label nuclear energy as 'green', foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said in Paris on Thursday.

Final push for EU-Mercosur deal, amid deforestation fears

Finalising the EU-Mercosur agreement is a priority for the EU and the upcoming Spanish EU council presidency, ahead of the summit with Latin America and the Caribbean countries to be held in Brussels on 17 and 18 July.

Analysis

Final steps for EU's due diligence on supply chains law

Final negotiations on the EU due diligence law begin this week. But will this law make companies embed due diligence requirements in their internal processes or incentive them to outsource their obligations to third parties?

Latest News

  1. The "BlackRock exemption" has no place in the EU's due diligence directive
  2. Europeans don't see China as a rival, but weapons to Russia is a red line
  3. Cleaning workers urge Parliament: "Europe should lead by example"
  4. Final push for EU-Mercosur deal, amid deforestation fears
  5. Ministers given 50/50 chance of reaching EU asylum deal
  6. EU Commission wants better focus on mental health care
  7. Right of Reply from the Hungarian government
  8. True scale of horror in today's Belarus hard to comprehend

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us