Germany Set To Miss Their Emissions Targets For A Ridiculous Reason | by Will Lockett | Predict | Aug, 2023 | Medium

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Germany Set To Miss Their Emissions Targets For A Ridiculous Reason

Why we must adopt all climate technology and not leave any behind

Will Lockett

Published in

Predict

5 min read

Aug 28

Over the years, I have covered the idiocracy of Germany’s nuclear phase-out multiple times. You see, when you look at the data, this decision makes zero sense. Despite what pop culture might tell you, nuclear power is incredibly safe, with a death rate per TWh 80% lower than solar! It’s also one of our cleanest energy sources, only emitting 4g of carbon dioxide per kWh of energy. Yet, Germany turned its back on this incredible energy source, and the last of their nuclear power plants shut down a few months ago. If you’ve been paying attention to the global political scene, you will know that this has coincided with an ongoing energy crisis in Europe, and Russian gas flow to the continent has been severely throttled back. As such, Germany has had to increase their use of coal power — the worst polluting energy source with emissions of 950g per kWh- to meet energy demand. So when I saw a recent headline declaring that Germany will miss their emissions targets, I was intrigued to see why. What I found was a very slight but effective bit of political PR.

Let’s start at the beginning. Germany has incredibly ambitious emissions targets. It wants to reduce its emissions by 65% compared to 1990 levels by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2045, 5 years before the Paris Agreement mandates. Their reason for this is that they are the largest economy in the European Union and, therefore, need to take a decisive lead to ensure the whole continent works together to fight climate change.

With this as a backdrop, their nuclear phase-out is even more baffling, but I digress.

Despite the nuclear phase-out, Germany has made some giant leaps towards these targets. For example, as of 2022, 22% of their energy came from wind power, and their entire automotive industry is rapidly transitioning towards EV technology. As such, their emissions are already 40% below their 1990 levels.

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This all sounds excellent, like Germany is on track to meet their targets. But a recent report from the German government themselves paints a…