Germany; New momentum in the climate issue

In recent months, there has been some growing acceptance in the German political debate about the need for CCUS before 2050 to achieve tighter climate goals.

Discussion note; CCUS must be considered

In April, the German industry association BDI published a discussion note indicating that CCUS must now be considered for industries that are difficult to decarbonise, as well as for the production of hydrogen from natural gas. Also, among various think tanks and NGOs in Germany, which have traditionally expressed skepticism about the use of CCS, there are now reports of changed assessments. Among other things, Agora Energiewende published a report in May in which they present an analysis that indicates that CCS may have to be used in Germany as early as 2030 to achieve ambitious climate goals.

The German Climate Act of 2019 is partly unconstitutional

The debate on the German climate effort gained momentum at the end of April when the German Constitutional Court issued a somewhat surprising ruling that the German Climate Act of 2019 is partly unconstitutional. The main point of the ruling was that the government’s strategy for cutting greenhouse gases leaves too great a cost to future generations and is not concrete enough with regard to how emissions are to be cut. The government was given a deadline of the end of 2022 to come up with a revised climate law. The case was promoted by nine German youths with broad support from various NGOs.

German revised climate plan; 65% cuts in greenhouse gases by 2030

Already at the beginning of May, the government launched a revised climate plan, now with a goal of 65% cuts in greenhouse gases by 2030 and climate neutrality in 2045. In other words, significantly more ambitious than the EU’s goal of 55% by 2030. Germany has also had tighter climate goals.

This is part of Gassnova’s environmental analysis for May, prepared by Gassnova’s analysis team.
Read the full analysis here.