Germany to miss EU green energy goal: study

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany will miss a European Union renewable energy target by a wider margin than previously predicted, a study showed on Wednesday. The BEE renewable energy association’s analysis found that energy from green sources would account for 16 percent of German power consumption by 2020, short of an EU target of 18 percent for Germany. That was revised down from a BEE forecast in April of 16.7 percent, due to higher energy consumption in the transport and heating sectors in the first half of the year. “The target of 18 percent for renewable energy sources in energy consumption by 2020 will fall further into the distance if increased consumption in the heating, transport and electricity sector remains undiminished,” the BEE said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is on course to win a fourth term in power at Sunday’s federal election, has come under fire for her cozy ties to the auto sector and for not doing enough to reduce Germany’s reliance on fossil fuels. In the wake of Volkswagen’s (VOWG_p.DE) diesel emissions scandal, the future of the car has become a hot topic in campaigning with the Green party urging a deadline to phase out the combustion engine – a call both Merkel’s conservatives and the center-left Social Democrats reject. A separate study this month showed Germany is only likely to manage a 30 percent cut in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2020 from 1990 levels, missing its target for a 40 percent reduction.

Source:Reuters