Germany unlikely to meet its climate protection goals for 2020

24.7.2014

Germany's environment ministry has admitted the country is likely to fall short of its future greenhouse gas emissions targets by seven percent. Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks has said that Germany is on track to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by just 33 percent in comparison to 1990 levels by the year 2020. This falls short of the country's previously-stated aim of 40 percent.

According to research from the German arm of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) things could be even worse than expected: Germany could actually miss its 2020 emissions targets by 10.7 percent.

Germany's targets of 40 percent reduction by 2020 and 55 percent reduction by 2030, are considerably more ambitious than European targets though. In comparison, Europe is aiming for just a 20 percent reduction by 2020.

-tk-