Experts Warn Germany May Fail to Reach 2030 Climate Goals

(MENAFN) Germany is at risk of missing its greenhouse gas reduction targets for 2030, according to climate experts who warned Monday that the country’s current environmental policies are not strong enough to meet long-term objectives.

A report issued by the Council of Experts on Climate Change, an independent panel appointed by the government, urged Berlin to quickly revise its recently introduced climate strategy.

According to reports, the council concluded that the climate protection measures presented by Environment Minister Carsten Schneider would likely produce far weaker results than government estimates suggest.

The experts said that even if the current program is fully implemented, Germany would still fail to achieve its climate targets for 2040.

Responding to the findings, Schneider said the government would carefully examine the warnings raised in the report.

“I take the warnings from the Expert Council seriously and will have them thoroughly reviewed. After all, whether Germany meets its climate targets is crucial to Europe’s efforts to avert dangerous climate change,” he said.

“The most important response to the experts' warning must now be to give full priority to renewable energy,” he added.

Meanwhile, council member Oliver Bettzuge questioned whether government plans to tender approximately 2,000 additional wind turbines would actually achieve projected carbon dioxide reductions of 6.5 million tons.

Germany aims to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by at least 65% by 2030 compared with 1990 levels, while targeting an 88% reduction by 2040.

However, according to the council’s assessment, those goals are also unlikely to be reached. Experts warned this could seriously undermine Germany’s broader objective of becoming climate-neutral by 2045, meaning the country would emit no more greenhouse gases than it can offset or absorb.

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