Less coal and more wind: Germany greener in 2023

According to the results of the Agora Energiewende expert group published a few days ago, Europe's largest economy emitted 673 million tonnes of CO2 last year, compared to 746 million in 2022, its lowest level in around 70 years.

And for the first time in its history, the country produced and consumed the majority of renewable energy for its electricity needs, according to official figures published this week.

This accelerated greening, the result of the energy transition which Olaf Scholz's government has made a priority, is however also largely explained by the fall in demand in industry.

Rush for solar

“We are on the right path,” said the Green Minister of the Economy and Climate, Robert Habeck, on Thursday. Germany is doing better than its annual CO2 emissions target set at a maximum of 722 million tonnes for 2023.

The decline is “largely attributable to a sharp reduction in coal-fired electricity production,” notes the group of experts. While the use of coal increased in 2022 to compensate for the cessation of Russian gas flows to Germany, its use fell last year to its level of the 1960s.

The share of this fuel fell to 26% of the production mix compared to nearly 34% in 2022.

With the drop in gas prices in 2023, operators have partly shifted to this energy. This resulted in a 31% increase in the use of gas, also a polluting fuel, in electricity production.

The country also imported more electricity in 2023, half from renewable energies and a quarter from nuclear power.

But this result was also obtained by the rise of renewables. The share of clean energy in electricity production stood at 55% last year, after 48,42% in 2022. Wind turbines contributed the most, with a share of 31%. Photovoltaics represented 12% of production.

This increase in power is explained by a more rapid deployment of new installations, thanks to laws adopted by the government to speed up authorization procedures and ease certain rules.

Last year, 14 GwH of photovoltaic power were installed, a record, while Germany wants to reach 80% of electricity from renewable sources in 2030. The Germans have never installed so many solar panels on their houses: one million in 2023, double the previous record of 2011.

And new wind capacity has doubled over one year, to reach 7,7 GWh. Unheard of here too, even if this figure is clearly “below” the limit set by law.

Can do better

But the picture is not entirely green. According to Agora Energiewende experts, only 15% of the reduction in emissions achieved this year is “sustainable”, linked to real structural changes.

And for good reason: the year was marked by a fall in production for German industry, a large consumer of energy. The sector, a pillar of the economy, is weighed down by a drop in domestic and international demand, and by energy prices which remain too high compared to its competitors since the war in Ukraine.

Production of the most energy-intensive activities, such as chemicals, steel and paper, has fallen by around 20% compared to its pre-conflict level. Emissions from the industrial sector have logically decreased by 20 million tonnes, or 12% over one year.

The housing and transport sectors also remain the worst performers in the energy transition, failing, as in past years, to significantly reduce their CO2 emissions.

Germany needs an “investment offensive”, according to Agora Energiewende, which calls for “securing the spending” necessary for the climate transition.

A court decision in November canceled a 60 billion euro investment fund for the future in the name of German constitutional rules of budgetary rigor, reducing the government's room for maneuver.