Bonn/Berlin, 10. August (dpa): Germany produced 10% less greenhouse gas emissions in the first half of the year than in the same period last year, according to estimates by the think tank Agora Energiewende.
The group estimated that Germany produced the equivalent of 340 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) between January and June – compared to 374 million tons in the first half of the previous year.
Agora bases its calculations on data from the Federal Environment Agency and the energy statistics research group AG Energiebilanzen. The figures were made available to dpa in Berlin in advance of publication.
Simon Müller, the Germany Director of Agora Energiewende, warned that the falling emissions of greenhouse gases was “no reason to rejoice” because “behind the drop in emissions we don’t have the structural transformation we need.”
Instead, high prices for natural gas and electricity drove down consumption, especially in energy-intensive industries, Müller said.
He said that Germany’s expansion of wind energy generation is progressing far too slowly and criticized Germany’s new government heating efficiency standards for residential buildings as insufficient to reach climate targets.
In order to better compare emissions, scientists frequently convert statistics about a variety of other greenhouse gases into CO2 equivalents based on their relative contribution to global warming effects.
According to the data, Germany emitted the CO2 equivalent of an estimated 372 million tons of climate-damaging gases in the second half of 2022. (dpa)
