Taking the lead in the fight against climate change, Germany has cut its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 40% from 1990 levels, the country’s economic minister announced, according to the Associated Press.
Peter Altmaier, the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, said that German greenhouse gas emission 42% since 1990, a level he claims would have been hit even without the economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The German population has increased 6% in the last 30 years.
German companies can trade emissions credits throughout the entire European Union, and Germany will implement a similar program intranationally. The EU goal is to have net neutral emissions by 2050, and Germany itself said that it will increase its use of renewable energies and zero-emissions vehicles to 28% of the transportation sector in the next ten years.