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The Council of Experts on Climate Change today published its statement on the 2023 Climate Action Programme, and at the same time the Federal Environment Agency published the Federal Government Projections report on which it is based. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action has commented as follows:
The Council of Experts on Climate Change (ERK) reviewed the impact assessment of the Federal Government's Climate Action Programme draft for 2023 and published a statement on it this Tuesday.
In its statement presented today, the Council of Experts on Climate Change recognises that the measures presented make a significant contribution to climate action, but also points to uncertainties and further necessary efforts. The main basis for the impact assessment is the Federal Government's 2023 Climate Action Projection Report, which was published today. The previous Climate Action Projection Report from 2021 still showed a cumulative exceedance of the annual maximum amounts of more than 1100 million tonnes of climate-damaging greenhouse gases stipulated in the Federal Climate Action Act for the period up to 2030; according to the current projection this climate action gap will now be reduced to around 200-330 million tonnes depending on the scenario chosen.
Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck said:
"The climate action gap left by the previous government will be reduced by up to 80%. This is great progress, because we have done the necessary groundwork - for example for the expansion of renewables, the climate and transformation fund and the targeted promotion of decarbonisation in industry. But, of course, much remains to be done and implementation is crucial. This is a task for the entire Federal Government."
The contribution to this climate action gap reduction varies greatly from sector to sector.
With the development of the 2023 Climate Action Programme, the Federal Government has already implemented many measures, such as the faster expansion of renewable energies, the Deutschlandticket (a public transport ticket valid for all local public transport across Germany) and the action programme for nature-based solutions for climate action (ANK). Further measures such as the Buildings Energy Act, the climate action agreements for the transformation of industry and the CO2-oriented truck toll have also been launched.
According to the 2023 Projection Report, about two thirds of the remaining climate action gap can be attributed to the transport sector.
The remainder of the non-transport sector share of the gap is divided in roughly equal parts between the building and industrial sectors. According to the Council of Experts on Climate Change, the gap in the building sector will be somewhat larger than assumed in the 2023 Projection Report, in particular due to the longer transition periods needed to meet the 65% renewable energy obligation for new heating systems as discussed in the parliamentary procedure for the Buildings Energy Act. It is now crucial to ambitiously implement the instruments that have been launched in the building sector.
The same applies to the industry sector: the Projection Report shows that the mix of instruments chosen by the Federal Government is fundamentally suitable for achieving the 2030 targets. In order to achieve the targets in the industry sector it is therefore particularly important that the support programmes for decarbonisation and the climate action agreements pick up speed as quickly as possible and that the necessary investments are made by industry.
The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action would like to thank the Council of Experts for its review and statement. The Federal Government will now review in detail this statement and numerous statements received during the public participation process and include them in its work on the implementation of measures that have now been agreed and in the necessary efforts to close the remaining climate action gap.
Background information on the Council of Experts on Climate Change:
The Council of Experts was set up on the basis of the Federal Climate Change Act. In accordance with the currently applicable legal situation, it reviews the greenhouse gas emission data with regard to its compliance with the annual emission quantities of the sectors specified in the Federal Climate Change Act. In addition, it reviews the greenhouse gas reduction effect of climate action measures in emergency programmes and climate action programmes of the Federal Government and publishes a comprehensive report on previous developments and trends in greenhouse gas emissions every two years.
