“I suppose we won't quite reach our goal”

Germany is likely to miss its 2020 target of reducing CO₂ emissions by 40 percent compared to 1990, environment minister Barbara Hendricks said in an interview with the national radio station Deutschlandfunk. “I suppose we won't quite reach our goal” and “end up a bit below it” Hendricks said. She added that she was responsible for initiating the 2014 Action Programme for climate protection “to come as close as possible to that goal,” whereas her predecessors were also aware that Germany was likely to fall short but did not act. 
In October Hendricks’ ministry revealed that the government’s 2020 greenhouse gas reduction target would probably be missed if no decisive steps were taken.

Read a transcript of the interview in German here.

See an overview of Germany’s emission reduction targets in the CLEW factsheet Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions and climate targets.