(New: 3rd paragraph with more details, 6th paragraph with German climate targets)

BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - According to the independent Council of Experts on Climate Change, the transport sector continued to produce significantly more emissions than legally permitted in 2023. Instead of the permitted 133 million tons of CO2, 146 million tons of greenhouse gases were produced in transport last year, the experts write in their review report published in Berlin on Monday on data presented by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) in March. This means that the transport sector has missed its climate target for the third year in a row.

According to UBA calculations, the building sector has also just missed its target, although the Expert Council was unable to confirm or reject this due to the great uncertainty in the calculated data. Nevertheless, according to the experts, the legally prescribed immediate action program must now be presented to make up for this. The responsible ministers have three months to do this. Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) has threatened weekend driving bans - otherwise the traffic target cannot be achieved. He wants to put pressure on a swift reform of the Climate Protection Act to abolish this obligation. The Federal Cabinet has already passed it, but an agreement in the Bundestag is still pending.

The debate about driving bans is not about the effect of individual measures, but about the controversial reform, said Brigitte Knopf, Deputy Chair of the Expert Council. "There is no serious debate about the measures. So it would actually be important to look at what measures are needed now." For example, tax regulations on company cars could be changed or the CO2 price, which makes heating and refueling more expensive, could be increased earlier.

Despite uncertainties, the Expert Council also confirms the sharp decline in emissions last year of around 10 percent compared to 2022. Emissions have fallen from 750 to 674 million tons of CO2 equivalents. For better comparability, other greenhouse gases are converted into CO2.

This is the highest percentage decrease within one year since 1990. However, like the UBA and Federal Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck (Greens), the Expert Council does not attribute this to effective climate protection policy, but rather to the weakening economy and the weather. "Without the decline in energy-intensive industry and the mild weather again in 2023, emissions would have been significantly higher," said Hans-Martin Henning, Chairman of the Council. Under other conditions, the overall annual target would probably not have been achieved. With rising temperatures, however, it could be that less heating would be needed in the long term.

Germany has set itself the target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 65 percent by 1990 compared to 1990. According to the Federal Environment Agency, Germany is on track here, but the Council of Experts has not assessed the calculations. However, the Council pointed out that Germany must also achieve its European climate targets.

The controversial immediate action programs

If individual areas fail to meet targets, the responsible ministries of the German federal government must step in with immediate action programs. The annual emission levels permitted for sectors such as industry, the energy sector, transport and buildings are set out in the Climate Protection Act. The measures adopted to date are not sufficient, the Expert Council emphasized.

The exact climate targets for individual economic sectors are a thorn in the side of the FDP. In principle, the coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP has actually already agreed on a reform: According to this, the main focus in future should be on whether greenhouse gas reduction targets are met across all sectors as a whole. However, the "traffic light" parliamentary groups in the Bundestag have not yet been able to agree on the details, with the Greens fearing a softening.

Is there a lack of money for climate protection?

If the climate plans presented last summer were not enough, the situation has worsened since then, experts note. Because after the Federal Constitutional Court tore a billion euro hole in the federal government's financial plans in November. The cuts subsequently negotiated by the government also affect the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF), an important fund for promoting the climate-friendly transformation of German industry.

"The KTF ruling results in funding cuts this year and narrows the scope for the following years. As almost half of the measures in the climate protection program are of a fiscal nature, this reduces the likelihood that the assumed reduction effect will actually occur," explained Knopf on the expected greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, the climate protection program will be implemented "less ambitiously" in the building sector, according to the experts. "A reduced effect is also to be expected for some measures in the transport sector, and an increase in car traffic can also be observed."

The Expert Council is a panel of scientists. According to the Federal Climate Protection Act, its tasks include the annual review of the Federal Environment Agency's preliminary data on greenhouse gas emissions from the previous year. However, final data will not be available until next year.

Germany has set itself the target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 65 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. By 2045, Germany wants to be climate-neutral, i.e. not emit more greenhouse gases than can be stored again./hrz/DP/mis