The year 2006 offered us the opportunity to obtain clarity about whether, and to which extent, the German government has remained faithful to the goals of the climate policy it set at the beginning of the nineties. Present data only show a decline of energy-induced CO2 emissions in Germany's old states of some 28 million t (or 4%) from 1990 to 2005. This means that the 25% emissions reduction target set by the German government back in 1990 – before reunification – has been missed by a wide margin. Thoughts on re-orientating climate-protection policy in Germany and placing greater emphasis on promoting the research and development of modern energy technologies are presented here.
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SachseM. (2004), Untersuchung zur Entwicklung der CO2-Emissionen in den alten und neuen Bundesländern 1990–2001, Forschungszentrum Jülich.
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ZiesingH.-J. (2007), Kohlendioxidemissionen in Deutschland im Jahr 2006, in Energiewirtschaftliche TagesfragenNo. 5, p. 80–87.
