The German parliament, the Bundestag, has today adopted the climate protection act enshrining in law plans to make the country greenhouse gas emission neutral by 2050.
However, industry groups criticised the legislation saying that the act will not achieve Germany’s climate goals.
Renewable energy group BEE said the law had been rushed through and lacks the ambition needed to meet intended goals.
BEE said there needed to more expansion of renewables, sector coupling with power-to-gas and a significant reduction in the burning of fossil fuels.
It noted that distance restrictions on the siting of onshore wind turbines created new obstacles to a sector that had already constricted.
“Germany urgently needs an energy and climate policy that initiates further innovations for clean technologies and thus achieves the climate targets, on the one hand, and secures hundreds of thousands of jobs already created and creates new ones,” BEE said.
Regional wind energy group WAB also criticised the climate protection act.
WAB called for more ambitious offshore wind targets – setting a 35GW goal for 2035 instead of the 20GW target for 2030 – that it said were needed to meet the country’s climate goals.
It called for a special offshore tender before the end of this year of 2GW, adding that the offshore industry is “very well positioned to make this contribution”.
WAB also called for expanded targets for onshore wind, with excess power that couldn’t be absorbed by the grid to be converted to hydrogen.
WAB managing director Heike Winkler said: “The current job losses (in the wind industry) are slowing down the wind industry and making the energy transition more expensive.
“When the home market fades, imports are required. Here, clear political decisions have to take effect quickly.”
But Germany’s Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said : “The heart of the climate protection program is now the law, Germany will get a binding climate protection roadmap and clear rules.
“Climate protection will finally become binding for all, because the law states how much CO2 in the areas of buildings, transport, agriculture.
“In the future, regular checks will be carried out to check whether emissions are falling as expected, and if not, the responsible department must respond with an emergency program, including social equalization: If the planned relief is not sufficient, it will be quickly adjusted.”