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National Energy and Climate Plan updated

The Federal Cabinet adopted the updated National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) for Germany. The Federal Government can highlight some major successes.

But it’s not just Germany’s climate policy that is being constantly finetuned so that the national and EU climate targets can be met. The national energy and climate plans are the EU’s central monitoring instrument to benchmark and coordinate the climate policies of the Member States. This is the only way to ensure that the shared EU energy and climate targets can be met in 2030.

Back in 2020, all the EU Member States had adopted their respective NECPs, stipulating their contributions to the EU targets and providing a detailed description of the current state of play. The description covers the five areas of decarbonisation, energy efficiency, energy security, the internal energy market, and research, innovation and competitiveness. In line with the requirements of EU law, and because some changes have taken place since the first plan was drawn up – for example relating to energy security and to the EU’s energy and climate targets – all the Member States have updated their climate plans this year.

A large number of new packages of legislation are now ensuring that barriers to the accelerated roll-out of renewable energy are being removed.

^{In 2030, renewable energy is to cover 80% of gross electricity consumption}

The key milestones on the way to this: By 2030, renewable energy is to cover 80% of gross electricity consumption. Also by 2030, 215 gigawatts (GW) of photovoltaics and approx. 115 GW of onshore wind are to be auctioned, and at least 30 GW of offshore wind energy is to be installed.

In 2023, the Energy Efficiency Act established the first cross-sectoral framework to boost energy efficiency, stipulating targets based on the revision of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive. The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to its ambitious climate targets in the new version of the Federal Climate Action Act from 2024 and the new comprehensive 2023 Climate Action Programme.

It is important to note that the reformed Federal Climate Action Act has left the climate targets unchanged. The reform does not permit a single tonne more of CO₂ to be emitted than was allowed under the previous rules. The revised Climate Action Act now takes a cross-sectoral approach to greenhouse gas emissions. This makes it easier to check whether Germany is on the right track to greenhouse gas neutrality.

The second revision of the Buildings Energy Act sets out key policies for the decarbonisation of the buildings sector. The Carbon Dioxide Distribution Act makes it possible for the costs of CO₂ emissions produced in the buildings sector from fuel oil, natural gas and other fuels to be shared between landlords and tenants.

All the measures and strategies cited in or deriving from the NECP are subject to the availability of funding and the reservation that the Federation is financially responsible for the measures under constitutional law.