Germany misses its own climate targets set for 2030

GENEVA

Germany will not meet its own climate targets by 2030, according to the 2023 projection report on future greenhouse gas emissions published Tuesday.

The report was commissioned by the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA).

Germany had set itself the goal of blowing 65% less carbon dioxide (CO2) into the air in 2030 than in 1990. But according to the report, prepared by a research consortium, 746 million tons of CO2 were still emitted in 2022. That's only a reduction of about 40%.

The experts do not expect that to change fast enough.

According to the researchers' model calculation adding up how much CO2 will be emitted in Germany from 2023 to 2030, the country will see a total climate protection gap of 331 million tons.

"331 million tons is already considerable," a UBA spokeswoman told public broadcaster NDR. She added: "The total gap by 2030 is more than 40% of our current annual emissions. To save that, further measures are needed."

The transport and construction sectors in particular stand out negatively in the report because both exceeded their maximum permissible emissions in 2022. This is the second time in a row that the transport sector has done so.

However, according to the report, it is still possible to achieve Germany's 2030 climate protection targets in all sectors. UBA refers to its own study published at the beginning of July under the title Climate Protection Instruments Scenario 2030 (KIS-2030).

According to the KIS-2030, a reduction in emissions of 68% compared to 1990 would be possible through a variety of climate protection measures, including more rail transport, a reform of the motor vehicle tax and the restriction of fossil heating.