Germany 'pledges to double renewable power by 2030'
After months of conflict within Germany's coalition government, a deal was reached on climate protection measures on Monday. But the opposition has called it unambitious.
The “Climate Protection Plan 2050”, which has been seen by Reuters, is set to be agreed upon by the cabinet on Wednesday, in time for Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks to take it to the UN climate change conference in Morocco next week.
The plan sets out goals for 2030 including that power stations halve their CO2 output in comparison with 2014.
According to Die Welt, the plan foresees that wind and solar power will more than double their input to the electricity sector in comparison with today by 2030, a considerably more ambitious goal than any previous target.
Older targets had aimed for renewables to cover 55 to 60 percent of Germany’s energy needs by 2035, but the new plan makes a goal of 70 percent by 2030 explicit, according to the Die Welt report.
Renewables currently supply 30 percent of Germany’s electricity needs.
Government sources however denied the Die Welt report to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ).
The plan also sets targets of a 45 percent drop in CO2 emissions from transport, a 25 percent drop from industry, and a 15 percent decrease from agriculture, according to FAZ.
But the plan makes no mention of meat consumption, which was recently criticized in a WWF report for contributing to Germany’s record as having one of the worst ecological footprints in the world.
Overall, if the new 2030 targets are achieved, Germany will have dropped its CO2 emissions by 55 percent since 1990.
But Oliver Krischer, deputy leader of the Green Party said the plan didn't go far enough, arguing that it demonstrated that Chancellor Angela Merkel needs to show stronger commitment to green policies.
"Germany is making a fool of itself on the international stag," he said.
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The “Climate Protection Plan 2050”, which has been seen by Reuters, is set to be agreed upon by the cabinet on Wednesday, in time for Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks to take it to the UN climate change conference in Morocco next week.
The plan sets out goals for 2030 including that power stations halve their CO2 output in comparison with 2014.
According to Die Welt, the plan foresees that wind and solar power will more than double their input to the electricity sector in comparison with today by 2030, a considerably more ambitious goal than any previous target.
Older targets had aimed for renewables to cover 55 to 60 percent of Germany’s energy needs by 2035, but the new plan makes a goal of 70 percent by 2030 explicit, according to the Die Welt report.
Renewables currently supply 30 percent of Germany’s electricity needs.
Government sources however denied the Die Welt report to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ).
The plan also sets targets of a 45 percent drop in CO2 emissions from transport, a 25 percent drop from industry, and a 15 percent decrease from agriculture, according to FAZ.
But the plan makes no mention of meat consumption, which was recently criticized in a WWF report for contributing to Germany’s record as having one of the worst ecological footprints in the world.
Overall, if the new 2030 targets are achieved, Germany will have dropped its CO2 emissions by 55 percent since 1990.
But Oliver Krischer, deputy leader of the Green Party said the plan didn't go far enough, arguing that it demonstrated that Chancellor Angela Merkel needs to show stronger commitment to green policies.
"Germany is making a fool of itself on the international stag," he said.
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