BERLIN, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Germany can still reach national Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions goals which the country is currently expected to miss, a study published on Thursday by the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology (IIE) found.
According to IIE researcher Norman Gerhardt, reducing German coal energy generation 13.4 gigawatt per year would already suffice to lower CO2 emissions by 40 percent between 1990 and 2020 as promised earlier by the federal government.
Gerhardt emphasized that such a move would neither endanger national energy supply, nor result in higher energy costs.
Back in January, the German government admitted that it would miss its own national climate policy goals, as well as binding European Union (EU) targets if the country continued along the current trajectory of sluggish greenhouse gas emission reductions. Internal calculations by the ministry for the environment estimate that Germany is unlikely to achieve savings of more than 32 percent by 2020.
The ministry based its more pessimistic forecasts on worse-than-expected data on domestic CO2 emissions from traffic, agriculture and heating. Although the share of renewable energy has grown rapidly during the past years, coal power continues to account for a large share of German electricity generation.
At the time, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) described the development as a worrying signal which would result in a loss of Berlin's international credibility on climate change action.
The gap between expectation and reality is potentially embarrassing for policymakers who have described Germany as an international leader on climate policy and touted its "Energiewende" transition to a greener economy as a model for others to follow.
Having revised national CO2 reduction goals downward for 2020, the "grand coalition" government now merely wants to "lower the gap in necessary action" between its desired and actual CO2 emissions savings. Nevertheless, the cabinet of chancellor Angela Merkel insists that longer-term national targets for 2035 remain valid.
A specifically-established commission to oversee Germany's gradual exit from coal power is scheduled to unveil plans by November of how the country can manage structural change in the affected regions. Concrete proposals for how Berlin can come closer to achieving targets for CO2 reduction by 2020 will be unveiled shortly thereafter.
