Energiewende “Fundamentally A Disaster” …Germany To Miss CO2 Reduction Targets By A Mile

The latest forecast shows snow and cold moving across much Germany this weekend, again. Despite Germany ‘s ruddy CO2 emissions, winter keeps coming.

German public broadcasting, here for example, reports today that despite all the green, climate-preaching, Germany will miss its 2020 CO2 reductions by a mile. More embarrassingly, the country has not reduced its CO2 equivalent emissions in 9 years when 2017 is counted in the statistics.

2017 Co2 equivalent greenhouse gas emissions are are projected to be at about 906 million tonnes this year (2017). Data taken from German Ministry of Environment.

The online site of German NTV public televisions reports that the results of a study by the Prognos Institute tell us that not only is the country going to miss its 40% CO2 reduction target compared to 1990, but that also “energy efficiency is significantly below the expected development requirements of the energy concept“. In fact energy efficiency has worsened over 2016, NTV writes.

Although Germany is a country that likes to preach to countries about their obligations and responsibility to boost green energies and cut back on “dirty” fossil fuels, it itself has failed miserably to make any progress of its own.

NTV adds:

The German government has fell way short of all its major targets when it comes to the Energiewende.”

High costs with no results

The NTV later continues:

Regardless of subsidies in the triple digit billions for the expansion of renewable energies, the emissions of climate-damaging carbon dioxide have not decreased as planned, but rather have stagnated since 2014.

Actually CO2 equivalent emissions in Germany have been stagnant for 9 years now, as mentioned above.

“Fundamentally a disaster”

Germany’s EEG feed-in surcharges are currently costing more than 24 billion euros annually, according to the German Energie- und Wasserwirtschaft (Water and Energy Management).

In terms of what the citizens are getting for their money, the Union of Bavarian Economy President Alfred Gaffal has called it “fundamentally a disaster“.

19 responses to “Energiewende “Fundamentally A Disaster” …Germany To Miss CO2 Reduction Targets By A Mile”

  1. John F. Hultquist

    It is nice that they are noticing this.
    Next, maybe, they will realize there are better ways of reducing CO2 than burning Lignite.

    With all the CO2 being produced, why is it still getting cold?

    1. SebastianH

      With all the CO2 being produced, why is it still getting cold?

      So how exactly is this not a troll comment/question? And how are the following two comments from Bitter&twisted and ClimateOtter not troll comments either?

      That’s what anyone disagreeing with skeptics has to put up with on this blog, Kenneth. And when those who disagree (or are mentioned) reply to thread develops into a who-said-what-frenzy. How is this even beginning to be the debate that you “skeptic” commenters are asking for? It’s pigeon chess all over.

      1. SebastianH

        reply to = reply to the

      2. AndyG55

        Poor seb.. do you need a tissue?

        …..trying to turn his manic trolling back onto other people. Classic far-left victimhood.

        YOU are the one causing all the problems, with your sliming and twisting around issues and avoidance of facts.

        And YOU KNOW that is the truth.

        Quite a pathetic, underhanded attempt, really !!

  2. Bitter&twisted

    Apart from the failure to reduce CO2 emissions, the fact that the poor and industry are being screwed by these green policies will be counted as a victory by Sebastian.

  3. ClimateOtter

    The NYT needs seb on their staff, to point out to them how Germany actually Has decreased CO2 (by way of fancy accounting, i.e., cooking the books)

    1. ClimateOtter

      NTV, sorry. All these leftist rags look alike.

  4. Håkan

    What year did the Energiwende start as the official policy?

    1. tom0mason

      From the doubtful reliability of Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energiewende_in_Germany )

      Legislative support for the Energiewende was passed in late 2010 and includes greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions of 80–95% by 2050 (relative to 1990) and a renewable energy target of 60% by 2050.[6] These targets are ambitious.[7] The Berlin-based policy institute Agora Energiewende noted that “while the German approach is not unique worldwide, the speed and scope of the Energiewende are exceptional”.[8] The Energiewende also seeks a greater transparency in relation to national energy policy formation.[9]

      Germany has made significant progress on its GHG emissions reduction target, achieving a 27% decrease between 1990 and 2014. However the country will need to maintain an average GHG emissions abatement rate of 3.5% per year to reach its Energiewende goal, equal to the maximum historical value thus far.

      1. John F. Hultquist

        The writer of the wiki page, and most others, fail to note that the comparison should be from 2010 numbers until now.

        Legislative support for the Energiewende was passed in late 2010

        significant progress on its GHG emissions reduction target, achieving a 27% decrease between 1990

        and 2014.

        What happened between 1990 and Jan. 2011 is a choice of the Ministry of Truth – Winston would be proud.

        1. tom0mason

          +1
          🙂

        2. richard verney

          It was phasing out, and/or modernising inefficient and heavily polluting industry in the former East Germany.

          There has been no meaningful reduction in CO2 emissions due to wind and solar. Almost all the reduction has been achieved by dealing with the heavy footprint of the former soviet East German industry.

          1. tom0mason

            Richard,

            “It was phasing out, and/or modernising inefficient and heavily polluting industry in the former East Germany.”
            Indeed it was so but then the very socialist government, with the cloak of Green virtue signaling, decided Germany need a less reliable, a vastly more complex, and outrageously more expensive grid system that has thwarted any ability to reduce CO2 from power generation, while giving the lignite industry, and the Russian gas industry a real boost (see http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/german-alternatives-to-russian-gas-numerous-but-pricey-a-967682.html )

          2. SebastianH

            There has been no meaningful reduction in CO2 emissions due to wind and solar.

            Oh come one, you are still broadcasting that falsehood?

          3. tom0mason

            And also note that 3 years ago the German government had to admit that they were going to miss their self imposed 2020 targets.
            This news was truly broadcast to the world (probably the AGW faithful blanked it out)by Deutsche Welle (DW).

            DW broadcast ran along the lines of ~~~~~

            Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, the leader of the SPD and the country’s minister of economy and energy, sat in a Berlin conference room absorbing some very bad news…
            An independent commission of senior energy experts advising his ministry explained to him on Wednesday that Germany was on track to miss – rather badly – the carbon emissions goals the government had set for the country to meet by 2020… (among the reasons for badly missing the target was)
            …continued operation of too many coal-fired power plants, including lignite (brown coal) burning plants, which are especially emissions-intensive.

            For these and other reasons, total carbon emissions were not dropping nearly as fast as the 2020 target demanded. Minister Gabriel admitted more needed to be done, pointing to an expansion in Germany’s electric vehicle fleet as one of his priorities. However, he has been a stubborn defender of the coal industry, pointing to the undesirability of job losses in economically weak coal-producing regions.

            And all this happen one day after the president of Swedish energy utility Vattenfall, and Hamburg’s mayor Olaf Scholz (a leading figure in Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD)) attended the ceremonial opening of a 1,600 Megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant. An opening where Olaf Scholz, representing both the local and national governments, pushed a big button to signal the start of the new plant’s operation. All this went ahead despite heated opposition from Germany’s greens, who want the country to exit from coal altogether.

            ~~~~~~~~

            🙂 Hahahaha! You could make this stuff up, eh?

            ~~~~~~~~
            Since then Germany’s CO2 emissions have not improved, if anything, meaningful reduction in CO2 are not happening because wind and solar hamper any progress on that front.
            Then again AGW religious zealots will still believe Germany’s CO2 levels will fall with more wind and solar installations.

            As AGW zealots are past masters at seeing things rising when they are falling, so to believe wind and solar will cause a CO2 fall when it will probably will not, should be simple statistical torture of the figures, followed by some perverse sophistry to hide the reality from these deluded souls.

            ~~~~~~~~
            Was that a vehicle I heard having a back-fire, or was that a AGW zealot’s head exploding?

          4. SebastianH

            if anything, meaningful reduction in CO2 are not happening because wind and solar hamper any progress on that front.

            I call BS. There is no way wind and solar could do that. Neither are fossil fuel power plants running in some kind of continuous standby consuming virtually the same fuel if they were producing electricity, nor are we still in the phase where the initial CO2 emissions from constructing wind and solar power plants divided by the power output produced from those installed plants (CO2/kWh) is bigger than the average CO2/kWh value of the power grid. Those power plants have been running long enough now to stretch this “CO2 investment” over enough TWhs.

            As AGW zealots are past masters at seeing things rising when they are falling, so to believe wind and solar will cause a CO2 fall when it will probably will not, should be simple statistical torture of the figures, followed by some perverse sophistry to hide the reality from these deluded souls.

            Nice try, [snip]. [Please refrain from name-calling.]

            If only you could look at statistics from other countries where wind/solar isn’t combined with phasing out nuclear power plants. Are their CO2 emissions not decreasing too? Besides do you see a “rising thing” in this graph? https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/38897/umfrage/co2-emissionsfaktor-fuer-den-strommix-in-deutschland-seit-1990/

    2. Don

      @Håkan 6

      The German energiewende evolved but its first true entrance into legal systems occurred in 2000 with the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) which was approved by the ECJ as not being state aid in 2001. After this date, we see rapid deployment of wind and solar (the latter starting its rapid increase in ~2008 after being included in the EEG in 2004). The Energieeffizienz initiative was established in 2002.

      This however change the story. If you use the data and compare CO2 emissions on the grid say averaging 1999-2001 versus the last 3 years, at best you will get a circa 5% decline.

      Anything happening before 2000 is arguable not part of the energiewende. See link below for overview
      http://www.politics.ie/forum/environment/240306-germany-its-electricity-generation-co2-revolution.html

  5. tom0mason

    Pierre, could you check the spam for my last comment.
    Thank-you.

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