But opinions are divided over Germany’s ability to maintain the drop – reduced industrial activity in 2023 and changes brought by reduction in Russian gas use may not be sustainable in the long term
Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions dropped by one-tenth last year as renewable energy grew in importance, the use of coal and gas diminished and economic pressures weighed on businesses and consumers, official data showed today (March 15).
Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, who is also the economy and climate minister, said Europe’s biggest economy is on course to meet its target for 2030 of cutting emissions by 65 percent, compared with 1990, according to the UAE news agency WAM.
Germany aims to cut its emissions to net zero by 2045 and is working to ramp up the use of solar and wind power and other renewable sources.
The country’s environmental protection agency said that Germany emitted about 673 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2023, a decline of 76 million tonnes or 10.1 percent, compared with the previous year. It was the strongest decline since 1990.
The agency pointed to Germany’s “very successful expansion of renewable energies” but cautioned that progress in cutting emissions is not satisfactory across the board. It said more needs to be done in the transport sector in particular, for example by expanding electric mobility and cutting some subsidies.
Habeck’s ministry said projections for the coming years point to a decline in emissions by 2030 of nearly 64 percent, compared with 1990.
“Germany is on course, for the first time,” Habeck said in a statement. “If we stick to our course, we will reach our 2030 climate targets.”
Earlier this year a study by the thinktank Agora Energiewende found that Germany emitted 673m tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2023, 73m tonnes fewer than in 2022.
The drop was “largely attributable to a strong decrease in coal power generation”, Agora said, accounting for a reduction of 46m tonnes in CO2 emissions.
Emissions from industry fell significantly, largely due to a decline in production by energy-intensive companies, according to a report on The Guardian news website.
Electricity generation from renewable sources was more than 50% of the total in 2023 for the first time, while coal’s share dropped to 26% from 34%, according to the federal network agency.
Germany had resorted to coal following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, when Moscow cut off gas supplies. But since then Germany has significantly reduced its use of the fossil fuels.
Simon Müller, the director of Agora, told The Guardian that the renewables record brought Germany in line with its target to produce 80% of its electricity from wind and solar by 2030.
It reported that despite this fall in coal reliance, the thinktank said, “most of the emissions cuts in 2023 are not sustainable from an industrial or climate policy perspective”.
Müller told the news website: “The crisis-related slump in production weakens the German economy. If emissions are subsequently relocated abroad, then nothing has been achieved for the climate.”
In all, the thinktank estimated only 15% of the reduction in 2023 constituted “permanent emissions savings”.
To hit its climate targets, Germany needed a “barrage of investments” to modernise industry and reduce the carbon footprint from heating, Müller said.
That, he said, can be done with a recovering economy.
