Germany: Transport sector misses climate targets

After a good 3.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide were emitted too much in 2021, the gap between target and actual values has widened even more in 2022. This is because the targets set in the Climate Protection Act for the transport sector were not achieved on German roads last year either. In fact, 150 million tonnes of CO2 were released instead of the permitted 139 million tonnes, which corresponds to an excess of 11 million tonnes of CO2 over the legally prescribed amount.  

A climate balance that contrasts with the good results in other sectors and certainly represents a departure from the trends of the last two years. Especially since a normalised traffic volume re-established itself and consequently led to the slight increases in emitted emissions. At the same time, other factors have contributed to the poor climate record, according to climate experts.  

According to the think tank Agora Verkehrswende in its report, the government did not sufficiently focus on political measures that were supposed to reduce traffic and pollutants. For example, the electromobility sector has been expanded, but the pace is still considered insufficient to bring about the necessary reduction in emissions. Other measures that were supposed to invite citizens to use more climate-friendly means of transport, such as the 9-Euro-Ticket, also did not contribute enough to consistently reducing emissions.  

A year's conclusion that, in the final analysis, does not surprise the experts. Since many climate-protecting transport measures also failed in 2022. In Balingen (Baden-Württemberg), for example, the environmental zone was abolished at the beginning of 2020 and in Berlin all diesel driving bans were lifted in September 2022.  Cities such as Frankfurt and Mainz have also not taken any steps to improve their air quality and have postponed the introduction of diesel driving ban zones indefinitely. Further lifts of low emission zone regulations are even planned for the near future - such as in Baden-Württemberg, where Karlsruhe, Heidelberg and Pfinztal want to follow Balingen's example and say goodbye to low emission zones. 

Although the lifting of bans in Baden-Württemberg is based on the achieved improvement of air quality and the reduction of air pollutant levels, the state still runs the risk of losing control over the emission situation. In order to achieve the climate targets set by the federal government - and internationally by the European Union - it is not enough to maintain climate protection measures only to keep the values below the acceptance threshold. Rather, cities and municipalities should work harder to reduce emissions more where possible - and thus make a real and effective contribution to climate protection. 

So it remains to be seen whether Baden-Württemberg's cities and other regions will continue to see these driving restrictions as something that needs to be abolished as soon as possible - or instead as another tool on the road to a cleaner future. And who knows, maybe next year the climate balance sheet will be much more positive for the transport sector.