German Climate Minister Wants Speedier Action on Emission Cuts

BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th January, 2022) German Climate Minister Robert Habeck said on Tuesday he would like Germany to speed up CO2 emission cuts threefold to meet its 2030 greenhouse gas reduction target and become climate-neutral by 2045.

"Emissions in the last decade have been falling by an annual 15 million tonnes but they must go down by 36 million tonnes to 41 million a year," he told a news conference.

The Greens minister said that existing climate protection measures across all sectors were "insufficient" for meeting Germany's carbon reduction targets for 2022 and 2023. Germany is on track to halve its CO2 emissions by 2030 from levels seen in 1990, far from its 65% target.

"We must get three times as good (as now) in some spheres," Habeck stressed.

Habeck's ministry, which is responsible for both economic and climate policies, will present a climate package in late April and another in summer. The measures will aim to increase the share of renewable energy in Germany's mix to 80% by 2030.

He said Germany would rely on gas-fired power plants during the green transition period for backup generation, but criticized the EU for including natural gas and nuclear energy in its labeling scheme for green energy sources. Germany plans to phase out atomic energy by the end of this year and wean itself off coal by 2030.