Germany ‘likely to miss’ goal of cutting emissions by 40% by 2020

Germany will likely miss its goal of cutting emissions by 40 percent by 2020, the environment minister said Monday. Official estimates project that Europe’s biggest economy will trim its greenhouse gas emissions by 32 percent or less by 2020 compared to 1990 levels, AP reported. The next target, a decade later, calls for a 55 percent drop in emissions from 1990. “It’s painful for me to have to tell you that we will miss the targets we’ve set for ourselves for 2020,” Svenja Schulze told delegates from more than 30 governments in Berlin. They gathered to prepare for an annual global climate summit in December. Setting her sights on 2030, Schulze said all sectors of the German economy would have to contribute cuts, but singled out transportation in particular. Emissions there remain at 1990 levels.