Experts raise the alarm: Germany's climate targets in danger by 2030!

Experts raise the alarm: Germany's climate targets in danger by 2030!

The expert council for climate issues has presented its current test report to calculate German greenhouse gas emissions for 2024. This evaluation is of crucial importance, since the results will have a direct impact on the future climate policy of the federal government. As ÖA> the emissions data for 2024 by the expert council and confirmed the results of the Federal Environment Office. In 2024, the building sector and the traffic sector again exceed the set annual emission quantities, whereby the exceeding is higher than in the previous year.

Special attention is paid to the land use, land use change and forestry (Lulucf) sector, which is still shown as an important source of emission. In 2023, the net emissions from this sector are 68.7 million tons of CO2 equivalents. The main emissions come from organic floors, which with 47.5 million tons of CO2 equivalents represent the largest source. This is caused by a high loss of carbon, which overcompenses the carbon binding in mineral soils, such as Thünen-Institut explained.

The methodological improvements in the emission calculation have led to the net emissions have been significantly higher in recent years. These findings underline the need to revise the measures to reduce greenhouse gases in this sector. Without significant changes, the goal of climate neutrality is expected to be missed by 2045.

political reactions and outlook

The federal government is consequently faced an urgent need for action. The expert council has recommended measures in the areas of traffic and buildings and requested the development of technical sinks to reduce emissions. The coalition agreement was rated as insufficient with regard to the achievement of the goals in 2030. Martin Kaiser von Greenpeace has therefore requested quick measures from the Federal Government and has already filed a lawsuit for the future at the Federal Constitutional Court, which is also aimed at the new government.

The allocation of binding greenhouse gas reduction goals for various sectors, as stated in the Federal Climate Protection Act, should be regarded as an indispensable part of the political agenda. As part of the "Fit-for-55 package" of the EU Commission, adjustments in the climate goals for 2030 are necessary to achieve the goal of a reduction of 65 percent, such as

Finally, the current analysis shows that the challenges in the field of emission reduction are still large. The pressure on the government remains high to take the necessary steps in order to achieve the climate targets and to secure sustainable development in the long term.