German officials say several climate measures the government is introducing will bring the country closer but not all on track towards its national goals for greenhouse gas emissions. -cut glass by 2030.
By beingFRANK JORDANS Associated Press
FILE – A queue of cars and trucks on a highway in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, April 26, 2023. German officials said Wednesday, June 14, 2023, that a series of climate measures introduced by the government will country closer but not all the way to meeting its national goals of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)
The Associated Press
Berlin — A range of climate measures the German government is introducing will bring the country closer but not yet to its national goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, officials said Wednesday.
Germany’s Climate Ministry said measures that are already in place or will become law will reduce emissions by around 900 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide for the period from 2022 to 2030 – around 80% of the 1,100 million tons of government planet-warming gas. aiming to cut.
An “emissions gap” of around 200 million tonnes of CO2 will remain and will need to be closed through additional measures over the coming years, largely due to continued high emissions in the transport sector.
Germany’s national climate plan aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 65% from 1990 levels by 2030. The target for 2040 is an 88% reduction on the way to “net zero” emissions by 2045.
A sharp increase in wind and solar power, energy efficiency improvements and subsidies for business to reduce fossil fuel use are among the measures taken or planned by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government since he took office at the end of 2021 .
“The political message, when I became minister, was that it was impossible to achieve the climate targets,” Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck told reporters in Berlin .
“For the first time, I would say, it is possible to comply with climate targets,” said Habeck, a member of the environmental Greens who is also the vice chancellor of Germany. “The art of making things possible is not discounting the moment; I would say that we have put the ship back on course, and of course it is now important to pick up the pace.”
After months of impasse that helped push down the ruling coalition’s polling rates, leaders of the three-party alliance reached a compromise this week on plans to introduce cleaner options such as heat pumps. replace old fossil fuel heating systems. Habeck admitted that hard details still need to be worked out in the coming weeks.
Environmental groups have criticized the compromise on heating systems and the government’s decision to abandon sector-specific emissions targets in favor of a broader target.
Meanwhile, the German solar industry warned on Wednesday that more workers are urgently needed to meet the demand for photovoltaic installations in the coming years.
Solar industry lobby group BSW said companies will need to hire around 100,000 skilled workers as annual installations are expected to rise to 26 gigawatts by 2026 from 7.4 GW last year.
___
Geir Moulson contributed to this report.
___
Follow AP’s climate coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
