Germany increasingly off-track regarding EU 2030 non-ETS climate targets - researchers

If Germany doesn’t fulfil its greenhouse gas emission reduction obligations under the EU effort sharing, it could end up having to pay between 13.5 and 41 billion euros for emission allowances between 2021 and 2030, Jakob Schlandt reports for Tagesspiegel Background, based on new calculations by the Institute for Applied Ecology (Öko-Institut). Because CO2 emissions in the non-ETS sectors of transport, buildings and agriculture have fallen less than envisaged or even increased in recent years, new projections by the researchers suggest that instead of emitting an excess of 300 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents by 2030, this figure could rise to 410 million tonnes, leading to higher payments for emission allowances from other EU countries.

The German government is currently preparing a Climate Action Law which is to set binding CO2 targets for each sector. But the proposal from environment minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) to hold each ministry financially accountable for the above payments should it not reach its reduction goals has been met by resistance from other ministries and CDU parliamentarians. The environment ministry treated the Öko-Institut’s calculations with caution, Schlandt writes, saying as of now it wasn’t possible to calculate the burden on the federal budget because of possible future CO2 allowance purchases.