Q&A: Germany’s climate action programme 2026

No, Germany is not on track to meet its climate targets, especially for the period post-2030.

The latest emissions projections data from early 2025 show that Germany would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 63 percent by 2030 – failing the 65-percent target – and only if current policies are fully implemented, which is uncertain.

The projected target miss for 2040 would be considerably larger. At current trends, Germany is set to reduce emissions only by about 80 percent compared to 1990 levels, clearly failing the 88-percent target set for that year. 

While the energy, industry and agriculture sectors are largely on track to help meet the 2030 target, transport and buildings are lagging.

The outlook for the land use sector is bleak: The climate law says that the sector should be a net carbon sink and stipulates targets for 2030, 2040 and 2045. However, the sector is currently emitting more greenhouse gases than it is absorbing from the atmosphere, for example due to the poor state of Germany’s forests. Years with long droughts and bark beetle damages have turned forests into net carbon sources. “The current measures and instruments are nowhere near sufficient to meet the targets” in the LULUCF sector, said environment agency UBA in its emissions projections report.

The country’s Council of Experts on Climate Change has already warned that the government’s coalition agreement remains too vague on climate policy to make sure emissions reduction targets are met, and called for an ambitious Climate Action Programme 2026.