Germany is getting worse on climate initiatives: NewClimate Institute data

Germany is performing less and less well in terms of climate. The country dropped from 13th to 16th place on the climate index of the NewClimate Institute, which was presented this week at climate summit COP27. It’s not all as hard as it sometimes seems.

To compile the climate index, the NewClimate Institute looked at four categories: the trend in emissions, the amount of renewable energy produced, energy consumption and climate policy. The 59 largest polluters worldwide were compared, together accounting for 92 percent of emissions. Germany is in the middle. At the bottom are countries like Russia and Saudi Arabia, and at the top are countries like Denmark and Sweden.

It is striking that Germany is performing worse and worse in the climate area, while the Greens are also in the current coalition. The government says it is doing everything it can to improve the situation. But they also have to do with previous governments that have done too little on climate policy. For example, they should have built windmills much faster, which means that there is now too little wind energy.

The energy crisis as a result of the elimination of Russian gas does not exactly contribute to the realization of the German climate goals. For example, fossil energy is still widely used and nuclear power plants will not close for the time being. You can see that all the measures that are being taken now only have an effect years later. COVID also played a role. The report says that emissions rose again after the corona measures were lifted.

The report comes across in Germany as criticism of the incumbent government. And especially at the speed with which climate measures are being taken. For example, too much has been invested in importing LNG, while this report says that this yields too little. In the longer term, according to employers organizations, you could bet better on hydrogen economy. And in traffic in Germany, everyone jumps back into the car, while the government refuses to make work of it.

According to the report, this all contributes to Germany still lagging far behind the climate targets it wants to achieve by 2030. Germany says it wants to become climate neutral and wants to have reduced emissions by 63 percent by 2030 compared to 1990. That is now 36 percent. It’s not all as hard as it sometimes seems and as you would sometimes expect from this government in which the Greens also sit.

Louise Roth is the youngest member of WeeklyNewsReview team. Despite the young age Louise is interested in serious topics. Her main interests and education is all about economics and politics. But in our team she is the most productive do-it-all member, so she has to write on a variety of topics.