Germany exceeds 2020 climate target due to pandemic

Germany exceeded its target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an analysis published by the think tank Agora Energiewende on Monday.

According to the analysis, Germany's greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 were 42.3 percent lower than the reference year 1990, exceeding the target of 40 percent lower.

According to calculations by Agora Energiewende, two-thirds of the decline in CO2 emissions in Germany was driven by the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and related drops in energy consumption, industrial production and transportation.

Without COVID-19 effects, CO2 emissions in Germany would have only declined by 37.8 percent, just short of the national emission target, the analysis found.

"In 2020, real climate protection effects were only achieved in the electricity sector, where CO2 reductions are attributable to the replacement of coal by gas and renewables," said Patrick Graichen, executive director of Agora Energiewende, in a statement.