German Chancellor Angela Merkel makes a statement to the media after a meeting with French President Francois Hollande at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, December 13, 2016. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany is at risk of missing its 2020 target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from 1990, an environment ministry report showed on Wednesday. Emissions were down by just 27 percent in 2015, it said. The report will embarrass Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was dubbed the “climate chancellor” after championing the issue with foreign leaders in her first term in office. She has also pushed through a switch to renewable energy. Since 2014, Germany has stepped up efforts to cut emissions with measures such as improving energy efficiency, trying to boost demand for electric cars and agreeing to mothball some brown coal power plants. The action plan was expected to save between 62 million and 78 million tonnes of carbon dioxide but now the government expects savings of just 58 million tonnes, the report said. Although Germany is switching to renewable energy and away from nuclear power and fossil fuel, industry has lobbied hard to keep coal mines running to avoid power supply bottlenecks. Domestic hard coal mining will end in 2018 but no date has been set to phase out brown coal mines, which are more damaging to the environment. Reporting by Markus Wacket; Writing by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Louise Ireland
Germany may miss its 2020 target for reducing greenhouse emissions, according to an environment ministry report. By the end of the decade, the country had aimed to reduce emissions by just 27% on 1990 levels. However, recent data reveals emissions were down 40% in 2015. Germany has been increasing efforts to cut carbon since 2014 with measures including energy efficiency improvements and closures of brown coal power plants. These actions were expected to save between 62 million and 78 million tonnes of CO2, but the government now anticipates the figure to be just 58 million tonnes.