Category: Germany News Brief and Action Alert

Germany: (1) Strengthen the EU Paris Agreement pledge, as well as Germany’s own targets; need short term targets that can be met by 2020, (2) Remove environmentally harmful fossil fuel subsidies The EU climate targets should be reviewed in order to achieve concrete long-term goals as pledged in the Paris agreement. For instance, the EU...

Germany—No 100% 2050 commitment Benchmark: 80 % renewable energy by 2050 Germany has short-term and long-term goals for ensuring that energy efficiency is achieved. It intends to reduce 50% of primary energy use by 2050 (compared to 2008 levels) and 80% of greenhouse gas emissions by the same year (compared to 1990 levels) (Rafindadi and...

Germany—The German Climate Action Plan 2050 In its INDC pledge to the Paris agreement, Germany proposed reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) by 40% by 2020 and up to about 95% in 2050, as compared to 1990 levels. To achieve this aim, Germany drafted a policy known as the Climate Action Plan 2050, which provides the...

Germany—Moving Forward Germany’s Efforts to Reduce CO2 Emission and Comply with the Paris Agreement The EU made commitments to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the Paris Agreement on climate change through an Effort Sharing Decision (ESD). The ESD requires member countries to submit biannual reports on their progress in meeting set emission targets in...

Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), 2017 and Renewable Energies Heat Act Climate change has been highly associated with greenhouse gas emissions that result from the ongoing burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. As a result, increased investment in renewable energy is a central approach in decarbonizing the energy sector and meeting...

Severe Storm Egon The storm named Egon in 2017 was one of the strongest storms to hit Germany in recent memory. Storm Egon built up over the Atlantic Ocean on the 10th and 11th of January 2017 due to large horizontal differences in air pressure of 850hPa. As a result, the storm was characterized by...

Broadcast Media Tagesschau (http://www.tagesschau.de/) is a German media outfit that broadcasts national and international news. Tagesschau is made up of: • a TV station known as Das Erste (http://www.daserste.de/) • a radio station – radio ARD  (http://www.ard.de/home/radio/Radio/22550/index.html), and • ARD Mediathek (http://www.ardmediathek.de/tv) which is produced as a redaction of ARD-aktuell on behalf of the German...

Regions/Provinces/States Thüringen—Thüringen is a state of some 2.2 million people located in central-east Germany. In 2012, the state produced 30% of its energy using renewable sources, and is aiming to increase this figure up to 5% by 2020. To do so it has largely scaled up its use of wind energy, with 25,000 operating wind...

Government Official Barbara Hendricks Minister of the Environment As a member of the Germany’s Social Democratic Party, Hendricks spearheaded Germany’s Climate Action Plan 2050. Additionally, she has pushed strongly for greater standards in the Paris Agreement, firmly stating it was “not the end, but instead the beginning of a long journey.” Green Party delegates, however,...

Research Study:  “Wirkungsanalyse bestehender Klimaschutzmaßnahmen […] und Klimaschutzprogramms der Bundesregierung.” “An Analysis of the Effects of Existing National Climate Protection Efforts,” produced by Umweltbundesamt, February 2016 Multiple policies have been enacted by Germany’s executive branch in order to further its efforts in meeting energy efficiency. One study carried out by the Umweltbundesamt—a German environmental protection...