translated from Spanish: Germany: Greenhouse gas emissions fall

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions decreased significantly last year, putting the country’s 2020 target back within reach.A report published Tuesday by the Agora Energiewende Study Center found that emissions decreased by 6.5% in 2019, compared to the equivalent of 50 million tonnes of carbon dioxide recorded the previous year.

Analysts noted that the decline was driven by the rise in the price of carbon dioxide in the emissions trading system, which caused utilities to burn less polluting coal and more natural gas. Renewable energy also peaked again in 2019, reaching 42.6% of Germany’s gross energy consumption, compared to 38.2% the previous year. Germany had been predicted to fail to meet its 2020 target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40% from its 1990 levels, with just over 750 million tons of carbon dioxide. The most recent figures showed that the European country’s emissions reached 811 million tonnes in 2019, a 35% drop since 1990. A similar decline in the coming year would return to Europe’s largest economy to meet its short-term goal. Climate change has become a major political issue in Germany in recent years, but efforts to keep the country away from fossil fuels, along with its entrenched automotive culture and heavy industry, have faced several obstacles. The report’s authors noted that heating and transport emissions increased last year, in part because the use of SUV trucks, which use a lot of fuel, has grown.



Original source in Spanish

Related Posts

Add Comment