Germany will likely miss 2022 climate targets, official says

A top German official said in an interview published Wednesday that Germany will likely miss carbon emission reduction targets next year.

“We will probably miss our targets for 2022. … Even for 2023 it will be difficult enough. We are starting with a drastic backlog,” German Economy and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck told the German newspaper Die Zeit, Reuters reported.

“2022 will be one of the most exhausting years this ministry has experienced in a long time,” Habeck added.

Earlier this year, the German government set ambitious climate goals of being carbon neutral by 2045 after a court ruled that the government must strengthen its climate protection laws.

Reuters noted that Germany set a 2022 goal of reducing emissions from industry by 177 million carbon dioxide tonnes — 38 percent lower than 1990 levels.

Germany has also set a goal of reducing emissions from transportation by 139 million tonnes — a 15 percent reduction from 1990.

Aside from emissions reductions, Germany is also aiming to increase the number of wind turbines built each year to 1,000-1,500, Habeck said.

Earlier this week, newly sworn-in German Finance Minister Christian Lindner introduced a bill that would transfer what remained of COVID-19 pandemic loans in 2021 to investments made for climate protection.

According to Deutsche Welle, the bill would move roughly $70 million to the Energy and Climate Fund which would help “the transformation of one of the largest industrialized nations toward climate neutrality,” said Lindner.

Deutsche Welle noted that this proposal was not well-received by some German lawmakers who saw it as a threat to the government’s debt brake. The German government debt brake, a measure included in the country’s constitution, mandates that the state may only use as much money as it takes in, with only a small line of credit for emergencies.