Germany is expected to have missed its climate targets again in 2022, even though renewable energy production reached record highs, according to Agora Energiewende.
The main reason has been the country burning coal and oil to compensate for natural gas shortages.
According to a calculation by the think tank energy consumption fell by 4.7% last year due to increases in prices and the mild weather.
However, greenhouse gas emissions did not decrease, because the rise in coal and oil usage cancelled out the emission reductions through savings.
With around 761 million tonnes of CO₂, the reduction target for 2022 was narrowly missed by five million tonnes, Agora calculated.
The target of 756 million tonnes is the sum of the CO₂ targets for the energy, buildings, transport, industry, agriculture and waste management sectors.
During 2022 renewable energy produced 10% more electricity, with production reaching a record level of 248 terawatt hours.
This was due to the favourable weather.
“Despite the record figures, the expansion of renewables must therefore be driven forward,” said Markus Voigt, CEO of German renewables investment firm Aream Group. In order to achieve the expansion target by 2030, significantly more solar and wind power plants must be built and connected to the grid.
“In this way, we protect the climate, create more security of supply and also lower prices,” added Voigt.
Due to significantly too little solar radiation and snow, the target achievement of Aream’s solar photovoltaic systems in Germany in December was only 60%.
In Spain, the irradiation was even weaker than in Germany, but measured against this, the yield was good (target achievement 85%).
Wind resource was weaker in Germany in the first half of December. “In the days with strong winds, production was partially limited to stabilise the grid,” said Voigt.
“For the year as a whole, wind power production was 92% of the target value,” he added.