Germany will fail 2020 climate goals, now eyes 2030 target
BERLIN — Germany will likely miss its goal of cutting emissions by 40 per cent by 2020, the country’s environment minister said Monday, an embarrassing admission for a government that wants to lead the charge on limiting climate change.
Official estimates project that Europe’s biggest economy will trim its greenhouse gas emissions by 32 per cent or less by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. The next target, a decade later, calls for a 55 per cent drop in emissions from 1990.
“It’s painful for me to have to tell you that we will miss the targets we’ve set for ourselves for 2020,” Svenja Schulze told delegates from more than 30 governments who had gathered in Berlin to prepare for an annual global climate summit in December.
Setting her country’s sights on 2030, Schulze said all sectors of the German economy would have to contribute cuts, but singled out transportation in particular, where emissions remain at 1990 levels.