(Bloomberg) — Germany’s environment minister urged the country to accelerate adoption of renewable power sources as a way to boost its energy security and reduce its reliance on fossil fuel.
“What benefits the climate also increases our security and economic strength,” said Carsten Schneider in prepared remarks for a conference in Berlin on Saturday. “Every additional kilowatt-hour of renewable energy makes our country less dependent on oil and gas and our energy supply more secure.”
Germany’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint slowed last year, with greenhouse gas emissions falling just 0.1% compared to the previous year, according to data from the Federal Environment Agency.
That meant the country once again missed targets set by the Climate Protection Act, especially in the areas of transport and residual emissions, gases that remain in the atmosphere after all efforts to remove or avoid them have been exhausted.
Schneider noted an increasing acceptance of electric cars and heat pumps, but said overall “progress is too slow.”
A decline in emissions in the energy-intensive industrial sector was largely due to Germany’s weakened economy, while emissions from the transport and building sectors increased.
The war in Iran has served another reminder to Germany of just how exposed Europe’s industrial backbone is to global oil and gas markets as energy prices lurch higher.
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