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Article Selection: Climate Change in Germany

there is an empty talk section

well

okay

The entire Mitigation efforts section is highly underdeveloped, so that's probably where I'm going to be focusing. The good thing is what is there is neutral, and Germany has been active in leading global climate change policies so I shoooould be able to find a decent amount of information

Climate Change Policy
Germany has taken taken steps to address anthropogenic climate change since the mid 1980's, starting with their participation in the international negotiations of the Montreal Protocol. The Montreal Protocol, alongside the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, acted as focusing events for the Germany public in 1986 and subsequently pushed the environment to the top of the policy agenda. As a result, the German government under Chancellor Helmut Kohl established the Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (Bundesministrium fuer Umwelt, Natureschutz, und Reaktorsicherheit, BMU) in 1986 and the subcommittee the Enquête Commission on Preventive Measures to Protect the Earth’s Atmosphere (Climate Enquête Commission) in 1987. The role of these committees was to research issues relating to the ozone depletion problem as well as the climate change problem, facilitate parliamentary debate, and produce reports for policymakers to create well informed programs. The reports produced by Climate Enquête Commission created the beginning framework of German climate change policies, which have historically included consistent goal setting for emissions reductions, promotion of renewable energy, energy efficiency standards, market based approaches to climate change, and voluntary agreements with industry.

Goal Setting
The third report as produced by the Climate Enquête Commission, released in 1990 titled "Protecting the Earth," called for Germany to make a 30% reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from 1987 levels by 2005 and an 80% decrease in emissions by 2050. After the report was released, the German federal government adopted the recommended 25-30% emissions reduction goal by 2005. Later reduction goals include Germany's pledge to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 21% from 1990-2012 as part of the EU's collective 8% reduction from the Kyoto Protocol, and the 2005 target of reducing GHG emissions by 40% from 1990 to 2020. The adoption of these national targets have motivated the German government to adopt different policies to meet these goals,

Voluntary Agreements with Industry
In addition to nationally adopted emission reduction goals, private industry has also made agreements with the government to reduce their emissions. In 1995, German industry published a voluntary declaration of their reduction goals, which was later revised in 1996. November 2000, report was released that indicated multiple sectors of German industry were on track to exceed their targets in half of the originally stipulated time. Encouraged by this success, industry published another revised declaration which aimed to reduce their total GHG emissions 35% by 2005.

"Wall Fall" Effect
A major driver of Germany's GHG emissions reductions was a result of German reunification in 1990, whose economic revitalization and other policies are credited with reducing 112.9 megatons of CO2/year from 1990 to 2010. The environmental benefits of reunification policies were largely co-benefits from modernization measures such as improving energy efficiency standards, the closure of nuclear power plants, and the creation of a private coal mining industry.

Renewable Energy
Germany has created multiple policies meant to encourage the use of renewable energy sources, such as the Electricity Feed-In Act and Renewable Energy Sources Act. The 1991 Electricity Feed-In Act stipulated that utilities purchase subsidized renewable electricity, which effectively cost 90% of the retail price which henceforth made the development of wind, biomass, and hydroelectric power economically viable. It is estimated that the Electricity Feed-In Act is responsible for a 42x increase in wind power from 1990 to 1998. Despite initial success, due to shifts in the electricity market, the Electricity Feed-In Act was no longer

EU energy plan 2008
In the end of 2008 the parliament of the EU approved the climate and energy plan including:


 * - 20% emission cut of climate gases from 1990 to 2020
 * - 20% increase in the share of renewable energy from 1990 to 2020
 * - 20% increase of the energy efficiency from 1990 to 2020.

Dedicated Federal Ministries
Mitigation efforts are being undertaken at all levels of government. Federal-level efforts are being carried out by the Umweltbundesamt (UBA), Germany's primary environmental protection agency, serving a similar function to the US' EPA. The UBA's primary role is to make environmental risk assessments and deliver policy recommendations to the Ministry of the Environment. The agency is also in charge of enforcing environmental protection laws including in the approval process for new pharmaceuticals and pesticides and CO2 trading.



2016
In 2016 Germany government has an agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 to 95% by 2050.

In some parts of Germany a phase-out of petrol and diesel vehicles is planned by 2030.