Germany's total energy consumption in 2022 fell by 4.7 percent year-on-year as a result of massive price increases for natural gas and electricity as well as mild temperatures during the heating season, according to an evaluation by the think tank Agora Energiewende published on Wednesday.
The country's greenhouse gas emissions stagnated at around 761 million metric tons of CO2, according to the evaluation. For the second year in a row, Germany fell short of its reduction target of 40 percent compared to the reference year 1990.
"In 2023, the government must reverse the trend: get out of fossil energies and consistently into renewable," said Simon Mueller, director Germany at Agora Energiewende, in a statement.
To ensure security of supply without Russian gas, the German government has allowed coal-fired power plants to be temporarily reactivated. The first plant was reconnected to the grid in early August.
According to the latest official figures, more than a third of Germany's electricity generation came from coal in the third quarter of 2022. Even during the sunny summer season last year, when renewables, such as solar and wind, typically generate the most, coal remained the biggest energy source.
Germany aims to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 65 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, and to be climate neutral by 2045, five years ahead of the European Union (EU), which seeks to be the first to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
However, Europe's largest economy remains a long way from achieving its mid-term climate targets, the German government's Expert Council on Climate Change warned in a report at the end of last year.
"The emission reduction rates achieved so far are far from sufficient to meet the climate protection targets for 2030," Council member Thomas Heimer said. "The annual reduction of emissions would have to double compared to the historical development of the last 10 years."
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