BERLIN: Germany unveiled a new climate action plan Wednesday aimed at sharply cutting emissions in coming years, but environmental groups quickly criticised the measures as inadequate and vowed legal action.
The policy framework, presented by Environment Minister Carsten Schneider in Berlin, includes new electric car subsidies and a boost for the wind energy sector. Europe’s biggest economy has set a legally binding 2030 target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 65 percent compared to 1990 levels, and a 2045 deadline to achieve climate neutrality.
But expert projections have shown Germany -- long a green energy champion -- falling behind on those targets. Schneider acknowledged it would require a “tremendous effort” to hit the 2030 target, but expressed confidence that Germany could still achieve it.
Greenpeace slammed the plan as insufficient, saying it relies mostly on “optimistic” projections, and Greens party MP Katharina Droege dismissed it as “a blatant deception”. The government, Droege said, had so far “opted for wishful thinking and dependence on oil and gas” -- disastrous choices, she said, given skyrocketing fossil fuel prices.
The plan includes an additional eight billion euros ($9 billion) for climate measures over the next four years, including help for heavy industry to reduce their “reliance on costly and unpredictable oil and gas imports,” Schneider said.
The new measures are expected to save more than 25 million tons of CO2 emissions by 2030, through support for low-emission technologies and several programmes for the construction of more energy-efficient buildings.
Among the measures, 2,000 additional wind turbines will be built, and a new income-based subsidy programme for households purchasing electric vehicles is expected to cover approximately 800,000 cars.
Conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government has, however, looked to scale back climate policies in some areas in an attempt to boost growth in the EU’s largest economy, which has stagnated in recent years.
Merz has backed a loosening of EU-wide car emission rules while his energy minister, Katherina Reiche, has looked to dial back solar expansion while pushing for a fleet of new gas-fired power plants.
Germany’s pace of reducing CO2 emissions has slowed, dropping by only 0.9 million tonnes year-on-year in 2025. To still hit the 2030 target, emissions would need to fall by an average of 42 million tonnes per year.
