Germany misses climate targets as emissions barely fall in 2025 | Germany
Greenhouse gas emissions in Germany again failed to meet the targets set by the Climate Protection Act and will hardly fall in 2025.
According to data from the German Environment Agency, emissions decreased by only 0.1% last year compared to the previous year.
The country’s emissions in 2025 were equivalent to 649 million tonnes of CO2; This was worse than forecasts by expert group Agora Energiewende, which predicted a 1.5% annual decline.
A more significant decrease of 3.4% was recorded in 2024.
German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider criticized the lack of development at a conference in Berlin on Saturday.
The Social Democrat said overall progress was “very slow” despite the growing acceptance of electric cars and heat pumps, and called on citizens to accelerate their adoption of renewable energy sources for both environmental and safety reasons.
“What benefits the climate also increases our security and economic strength,” he said. “Every additional kilowatt-hour of renewable energy makes our country less dependent on oil and gas and makes our energy supply more secure.”
Despite this, both Schneider and the German Environment Agency remained optimistic that the country could meet its 2030 climate target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 65% compared to 1990.
Schneider welcomed the “growing interest in climate protection technologies” such as electric cars and heat pumps.
“And there are more newly approved wind energy projects than ever before. This gives hope that progress will accelerate once again in the coming years,” he said.
To achieve the 2030 reduction target, emissions will need to decrease by an average of 42 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year from 2026; This is more than 40 times the decrease recorded last year.
In 2025, Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions were 48% below the 1990 base year level.
Schneider said it was “particularly urgent” to reduce emissions in the transport and construction sectors, where emissions rose last year, to avoid buying costly emissions allowances or fines from other EU member states.
Pursuing climate targets in Germany, one of the priorities of the previous government of Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, looks less certain under conservative chancellor Friedrich Merz.
His government, in power since May 2025, has instead advocated easing environmental standards.
Germany is Europe’s largest economy and manufacturing center, trailing only the economies of the United States and China in terms of size globally.
