New EU climate target means Germany must cut emissions by 65% by 2030 – env ministry

The agreement by EU member states on an emissions cut of at least 55 percent by 2030 means that Germany will have to step up its climate ambitions significantly, according to environment state secretary Jochen Flasbarth. "We are convinced that Germany's contribution to climate protection in 2030 will no longer be 55 percent but in the order of 65 percent reduction compared to 1990," Flasbarth told the energy policy newsletter Tagesspiegel Background. He added that a 60 percent reduction as proposed by the conservative CSU – the Bavarian sister party to chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU – will "surely not be enough."

Flasbarth said he believed that the European Commission will not impose new nationally binding targets for transport, building and agriculture on member states by adapting the effort-sharing regulation. "Unfortunately, this has given rise to the misunderstanding among some that we in the environment ministry would think that there would not be a significant increase in climate protection in Germany. That is, of course, nonsense," Flasbarth said. He added that Germany’s climate policy will become much more European in the future. "The new EU climate target can be implemented to a large extent with Europe-wide instruments. If, for example, the CO2 fleet limits for passenger cars in the EU are increased or the allowances in the European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) are made scarcer, this will inevitably change our vehicle fleet and our energy mix," Flasbarth said. "These instruments do not require any adjustment of national legislation."