FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany cut its greenhouse gases emissions by 1.9% last year helped by higher renewable electricity output and energy conservation, its environment agency said on Wednesday.
Output fell to 746 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent and is down 40.4% from comparable 1990 levels.
Still, it remains well above a 2030 target of 438 million tonnes set out in Germany’s climate legislation, preliminary data from environment agency UBA showed.
“In order to meet climate targets up to 2030, we have to cut emissions by 6% each year,” said Dirk Messner, president of the UBA, which reports to the environment ministry.
“Since 2010, we have not even achieved an average 2% drop per year.”
The report will add urgency to government plans for immediate measures to hike green energy capacity, UBA said.
Emissions from the utility industry rose by 4.5% to 256 million tonnes but stayed below a cap of 257 million tonnes, UBA said, noting the use of highly polluting coal for power generation after Russia reduced deliveries of gas.
The transport and building sectors missed their targets.
Transport sector emissions rose 0.7% to 148 million tonnes, 9 million tonnes above their 2022 target as road traffic picked up after the coronavirus pandemic eased.
Building sector emissions fell 5.3% helped by mild weather and energy conservation by industry and households but at 112 million tonnes still overshot a target of 107 million.
The UBA data comes ahead of official European Union 2022 data on member state emissions which inform the carbon allowances market.
(Reporting by Markus Wacket and Vera Eckert; editing by Miranda Murray and Jason Neely)
