Germany reduced CO2 emissions from its power sector by 11% in 2024, data from Montel Analytics showed on Thursday.
Power generation in Europe’s largest economy emitted 143.9m tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) last year, compared with 161.2m tCO2e in 2023, according to the latest Montel Analytics data.
Lignite accounted for 56% of Germany’s power emissions in 2024 with 80.7m tCO2e, although this represented a drop of 9% on the year.
“Lignite is still by far the biggest emitter and it will probably not give away this title soon,” said Konstantin Pelz, carbon analyst at Montel Analytics.
Photo: Aerovista Luchtfotografie/Shutterstock.com
Emissions from hard coal accounted for 16% of the power sector total in 2024, or 23.3m tonnes, down by 31% on the year.
Gas, solar emissions up
However, emissions from natural gas and solar were on the rise.
Natural gas, which made up 14% of Germany’s power sector emissions with 20.1m tCO2e in 2024, grew by 5% compared with 2023.
This suggests that “dirtier” sources of power production, such as lignite and hard coal, are being replaced by “cleaner” gas in Germany, said Pelz.
Solar accounted for just under 3% of total emissions, at 3.7m tCO2e, up by 16% on the year.
This growth could be explained by the increased installed capacity at solar plants in the country. Germany’s solar output totalled 63.3 TWh in 2024, compared with 55.7 TWh in 2023, according to Montel Analytics.
Source: Montel Analytics
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