Continued reductions in greenhouse gas emissions make Germany’s 2030 targets look achievable given continuing efforts – amid a still concerning global picture.
Germany is reducing its emissions and making good progress toward its longer-term goals – but the overall global picture remains worrisome. Projections from Germany’s Federal Environment Agency show that Germany is on track to meet its 2030 climate targets, assuming continued reduction efforts. And for the period 2021 to 2030, Germany’s emissions could be 81 million tons of CO2 equivalent below the legally agreed maximum.[1] But the need for further efforts in Germany and globally remains clear, as global emissions continue to rise.
In mid-March, Germany’s Federal Environment Agency released the latest data on greenhouse gas emissions. The agency reported that Germany’s emissions in 2024 were down about 3.4 % from the previous year to 649 million tons of CO2 equivalent, well below the total annual emissions of 693.4 million tons set as the legal maximum for the year. The decline in per capita greenhouse gas emissions is also encouraging.
Since 1990 Germany has achieved a 48% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The official target according to the Federal Climate Protection Act is for a 65% reduction in emissions by 2030. The German Federal Environment Agency currently estimates that a reduction of around 63% may be achieved if the climate policy instruments already in place are consistently implemented and enforced. Climate neutrality by 2045 was enshrined in the German constitution last week.
Germany has achieved a 48% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions since 1990
Compared to other countries, Germany is doing very well – but emissions are still rising in most countries, as global emissions data show. According to the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR), global greenhouse gas emissions increased by 1.9%, or 994 million tons of CO2 equivalent, to a record 53.0 billion tons in 2023.[2] Of the 17 countries and regions that account for more than 1% of global emissions, only six achieved a decrease in their greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 compared with the previous year: the United States (-1.4%), the EU27 (-7.5%), Japan (-6.0%), South Korea (-2.2%), Germany (-10.5%) and Pakistan (-0.7%). Germany’s reduction was the largest. All other countries with generally high emissions have increased their GHG emissions in 2023. India in particular has seen a significant increase of 6.1%, followed by China at 5.2% and Indonesia at 4.1%.
Overall, it is clear that action on climate change is extremely uneven across different regions of the world, and some emerging economies with high population growth and relatively rapid economic growth are still increasing their emissions significantly. Advanced economies like Germany with high emissions and low population growth have more scope to reduce emissions rapidly, and need to do so.