Germany Reasserts Climate Leadership, Outlines Path to Carbon-Neutral Economy by 2050

With U.S. policies suddenly in doubt, Germany reaffirms its ambition to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by up to 95 percent, but has its own political worries.

Germany, seeking to reassert leadership on climate action and help build political momentum, spelled out its plan this week to effectively stop using fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by between 80 and 95 percent by mid-century.

As the world's fourth-largest economy and a global leader in clean energy, Germany hoped to provide some optimism at the global climate talks in Marrakech, Morocco in the face of uncertainty over what the U.S. policies will be with Donald Trump as president.

"By 2050, the whole German economy will be fully renewable," said Jochen Flasbarth, the state secretary for the Ministry of Environment.

The Klimaschutz 2050 plan envisions a carbon-neutral Germany by 2050, a longstanding target.  But for the first time, it gets specific.  The plan details how much each sector of the economy will reduce emissions to meet the intermediate goal of a 55 percent carbon reduction in the next 15 years.  In previous climate plans there were no goals for transportation and agriculture, but now all major polluters will have to pull their weight, German officials said.

The plan unveils a catalog of 97 measures, and while it does not explicitly say that burning of fossil fuels must end, its architects say the goals can't be reached without phasing them out.

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