| Popis: |
To avoid the most severe impacts of climate change, global temperatures must not rise by more than 2° C compared to pre-industrial levels. According to the IPCC, this target implies a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 50 % until the middle of this century compared to 1990 and a peaking of global greenhouse gas emissions the current decade. Germany is strongly committed to lead in the fight against climate change, so it has to reduce its emissions by 95 % until 2050. Due to Germany’s large share of total emissions and lack of mitigation options in other sectors, this requires a full decarbonisation of the energy sector and its subsector, electricity production. This can only be achieved by reduced energy consumption, by a more efficient electricity production, and by using energy from renewable sources. These measures require a well-established, long-term political will to push for the necessary instruments, which comprise inter alia strict energy efficiency standards, obligatory energy management systems, further development of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), efficient demand- and supply-side management and adaptation of the electricity grid. Furthermore, the potential negative environmental and social impacts of these changes have to be minimized. This possibility of the described change is not limited to Germany. On the contrary, by moving in this direction on a European level, significant synergy effects can be used. |
