What is Germany's pathway to limit global warming to 1.5°C?
Current Situation
Emissions
Germany’s GHG emission amounted to 672 MtCO2e in 2023. Preliminary data shows that for 2025, GHG emissions fell by 3% from 2023 levels (excluding LULUCF) to 649 MtCO2e. Overall, emissions have been declining since 1990 and fell 48% between 1990 and 2025 but only fell by 0.1% between 2024 and 2025.1
Power generation is the largest emitting sector, responsible for 25% of Germany’s total GHG emissions. This is followed by the industry sector, which accounts for 24%, including emissions from industrial product feedstocks used in manufacturing (7%). Transport accounts for 22% of national emissions.
In 2023, CO2 accounted for 87% of the Germany’s emissions. Methane is the second largest emitted greenhouse gas at 7%, mostly coming from agriculture. Emissions across all sectors have been trending downward since the 1990s, except for the land use sector.2 Power sector emissions have fallen rapidly, supported by the strong growth of renewables and steady reductions in coal-fired power generation. Emissions from buildings and industry have also fallen since the 1990s, primarily driven by improvements in energy efficiency, greater electrification but also reduced productivity. While transport sector emissions are below pre-COVID levels, they have been rebounding since 2020.
Germany's 2023 GHG emissions
excluding LULUCF MtCO₂e/yr
When graphs include LULUCF, the center value includes LULUCF if the sector is a net source of emissions and excludes it when the sector is a net sink of emissions. Individual sector rounding may lead to small inconsistencies in total sum.
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Graph description
Historical emissions per gas and per sector. Emissions data is presented in global warming potential (GWP) values from the IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report (AR5).
Data References
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Energy
Fossil fuels supplied 80% of Germany’s primary energy demand in 2023. Oil is the dominant fossil energy source, accounting for 40% of the Germany’s energy. The transport sector is the main consumer of oil and petroleum products. Coal continues to play an outsized role in Germany’s energy system accounting for 18% of its primary energy mix in 2023. Compared to other EU member states, Germany is the second largest consumer of coal, accounting 23% of all coal consumption in the EU in 2024.3 Coal largely remains in power generation and for direct heat generation in energy-intensive industries including iron and steelmaking. Fossil fuel consumption has been declining. Since 2020, average gas consumption has fallen by 3.2% annually, while oil consumption fell by 4% annually.4
Industry and transport both roughly account for about 26% of Germany’s energy demand, while residential and commercial buildings are 38% of the total energy collectively.5
Germany imports 90% of its fossil gas from abroad. Since pushing to phase out Russian gas in 2023, it has increasingly relied on importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US, which it facilitated by constructing temporary floating import terminals along the coast. However, the majority of fossil gas imported by Germany still comes from pipelines from other European states, highlighting Germany’s dependency and price volatility risks.6