Germany can achieve climate neutrality by 2045, but huge tasks such as massive renewable energy development and industry reform must be started as soon as feasible by the country’s next administration, according to the German Energy Agency (dena). According to a thorough climate neutrality study produced with input from a wide range of experts, industry and civil society leaders, coal power will be substantially phased out of the market by 2030, and more than 9 million completely electric automobiles will be on Germany’s roads. Climate neutrality by mid-century, according to a second estimate by the research section of the government-owned financial institution KfW, will necessitate extra investments of 1.9 trillion euros from public and private sources.
Germany may achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 if current plans are followed, but the required efforts will be a “enormous burden” for the country, according to Andreas Kuhlmann, chairman of the German Energy Agency (dena).
Germany must considerably enhance energy efficiency, expand direct use of renewable energy, mostly through electrification, roll out climate-friendly synthetic fuels like green hydrogen, and place a priority on natural and technical CO2 sinks in order to meet the objective. Dena stated that “massive efforts” in all economic areas are required. The goal of the paper is to illustrate how the 2030 sector objectives and climate neutrality in 2045 can be met, including which energy sources and technologies are necessary in what amounts, as well as the transformative changes required. It puts out 84 assignments in 10 different categories.
At a news conference, dena head Andreas Kuhlmann stated, “Every single assignment is possible.” “Simultaneous orchestration, on the other hand, is a huge effort.” He urged the next German administration to establish “new impetus in energy and climate policy” and stressed the importance of fast coalition discussions. The parties needed to wrap up their negotiations swiftly in order to “become involved and help shape things” at the European level as well.
The study was released on the same day that the SPD, the Green Party, and the pro-business FDP met for the first time to discuss the possibility of forming a governing coalition. Annalena Baerbock, co-leader of the Green Party, called for quick coalition negotiations to ensure that the next German government is a “climate government.”
Germany can achieve climate neutrality by 2045, but huge tasks such as massive renewable energy development and industry reform must be started as soon as feasible by the country’s next administration, according to the German Energy Agency (dena). According to a thorough climate neutrality study produced with input from a wide range of experts, industry and civil society leaders, coal power will be substantially phased out of the market by 2030, and more than 9 million completely electric automobiles will be on Germany’s roads. Climate neutrality by mid-century, according to a second estimate by the research section of the government-owned financial institution KfW, will necessitate extra investments of 1.9 trillion euros from public and private sources.
Germany may achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 if current plans are followed, but the required efforts will be a “enormous burden” for the country, according to Andreas Kuhlmann, chairman of the German Energy Agency (dena).
Germany must considerably enhance energy efficiency, expand direct use of renewable energy, mostly through electrification, roll out climate-friendly synthetic fuels like green hydrogen, and place a priority on natural and technical CO2 sinks in order to meet the objective. Dena stated that “massive efforts” in all economic areas are required. The goal of the paper is to illustrate how the 2030 sector objectives and climate neutrality in 2045 can be met, including which energy sources and technologies are necessary in what amounts, as well as the transformative changes required. It puts out 84 assignments in 10 different categories.
At a news conference, dena head Andreas Kuhlmann stated, “Every single assignment is possible.” “Simultaneous orchestration, on the other hand, is a huge effort.” He urged the next German administration to establish “new impetus in energy and climate policy” and stressed the importance of fast coalition discussions. The parties needed to wrap up their negotiations swiftly in order to “become involved and help shape things” at the European level as well.
The study was released on the same day that the SPD, the Green Party, and the pro-business FDP met for the first time to discuss the possibility of forming a governing coalition. Annalena Baerbock, co-leader of the Green Party, called for quick coalition negotiations to ensure that the next German government is a “climate government.”
Germany’s sector-specific yearly greenhouse gas reduction objectives will virtually likely not be fulfilled in the next years.
Andreas Kuhlmann, dena’s management top executive
Following a historic constitutional court judgment, Germany’s departing government, led by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and the SPD, agreed to establish stronger greenhouse gas reduction objectives for the next decades and to move the climate neutrality deadline forward to 2045. Although it is uncertain whether a new administration will set even higher goals, the Green Party has stated that with the proper policies, Germany might achieve carbon neutrality within 20 years.
According to Kuhlmann, the dena report was a multi-stakeholder effort that took 17 months to complete. A 45-member advisory board comprised of experts from science, politics, and society offered their knowledge, as did ten scientific institutes, more than 70 corporations, and a 45-member advisory board comprised of experts from science, politics, and society. The study had been chastised in the run-up for collecting funding from affected companies.
Climate objectives for Germany’s private sector are unlikely to be met in the foreseeable future, according to Kuhlmann.
According to Kuhlmann, Germany will miss its greenhouse gas reduction objectives in most, if not all, sectors this year “with a high probability” – and most certainly next year as well. “In recent years, far too much has been left undone.”
In the event that the objective is not met, the country’s Climate Action Law mandates that the government implement emergency programs to refocus efforts. However, this obstructs targeted, efficient activity, preventing the essential momentum from being built, according to Kuhlmann.
It would be “insane” if the coalition negotiated an ambitious climate package now, only to have to come up with emergency programs next year and the years following when emissions data is revealed each spring, according to Kuhlmann.
Massive renewable energy deployment, coal phase-out by 2030, and industrial change are all critical
All industries must experience significant transformations. According to the research, emissions in the energy sector must be reduced the greatest and as quickly as possible. By 2030, renewable energy capacity must quadruple, and coal power will be substantially phased out of the market. “Because the reconversion of green hydrogen into electricity will become the third most significant source of electricity production after wind power and photovoltaics in 2045,” the development of infrastructure for green hydrogen and other climate-friendly synthetic fuels is critical.
In this decade, industry emissions must be cut by an average of 8 million tonnes CO2, with the steel and chemical industries seeing the most drastic reductions. According to Kuhlmann, achieving climate neutrality in industry necessitates a transparent greenhouse gas balance across the entire value chain, a consistent circular economy, a financial steering effect via CO2 pricing, the creation of new lead markets, and a rapid ramp-up of low-emission technologies and manufacturing processes.
E-mobility is the answer to reducing passenger automobile emissions in the transportation sector. Dena says, “Hydrogen will scarcely play a part.” Germany will require more than 9 million pure electric vehicles by 2030 (14 million including hybrids), according to the report. By 2045, nine million heat pumps will have replaced climate-damaging fossil fuel technologies in the construction industry. Climate-neutral fuels, on the other hand, would play a role. “A climate-neutral building stock is impossible from today’s perspective without hydrogen and climate-neutral gases due to the complexity of the construction industry with its very particular difficulties,” stated dena.
KfW estimates that achieving climate neutrality by 2050 will necessitate extra investments of 1.9 trillion euros.
According to KfW Research, the research branch of government-owned financial institution KfW, five trillion euros in investments will be required in Germany by mid-century to make the nation carbon neutral, based on a report done by consultancies Prognos, Nextra Consultung, and NKI.
“It’s a large number, but it’s possible,” said Fritzi Köhler-Geib, chief economist.
According to the organization, the total comprised investments that had to be made anyhow, but were increasingly placed into climate-friendly activities. Climate-related extra investments total 72 billion euros each year on average, or 1.9 trillion euros by 2045. This figure will require both private and governmental funding, according to KfW.
The transportation sector accounts for the bulk of the overall required climate action investments, which amount 2.1 trillion euros. The energy industry requires the second-largest investment (€840 billion). Many moves in the right direction have already been taken, according to the study. A total of 636 billion euros has been invested in climate action by private households.