| | ![]()  | |
 | Das Dokument ist frei verfügbar | 
 |
 |  |  | Nachweis | Kein Nachweis verfügbar | 
 |
 | The Federal Environment Agency (UBA) has for several years been researching appropriate  effective ways of implementing the targets set by the international community on stemming climate change in a highly industrialised and developed nation like Germany. The findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) show beyond doubt that industrial nations in particular will need to work towards ambitious climate targets by the middle of this century if they are to fulfil their global responsibility. This provides an opportunity for Germany to take on a trailblazing role  setting the bar high and working towards the ‘greenhouse gas-neutral country’ climate target. The UBA has launched an interdisciplinary process in order to discover how a greenhouse gas-neutral Germany might look in 2050. The process began with an investigation of electricity generation  be-cause this involves high emissions; the UBA showed that it is in fact possible to generate 100% of our electricity from renewable sources. From the outset  it was clear that a sustainable supply of energy from renewables would not on its own be sufficient to avoid almost all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Other sectors of the economy would also need to make major changes and increase their use of low-GHG technologies.The present study  ‘Greenhouse gas-neutral Germany 2050’ therefore investigates all the relevant sources of emissions that are described in the German National Inventory Report (NIR) on greenhouse gases. Thus besides energy supply — including the heat and transport sectors — we also consider greenhouse gas emissions from industry  waste management  agriculture and forestry and changes in land use.  We then present a target scenario. Our study does not cover the routes towards this trans-formation  any associated economic assessments  or the selection of suitable policy instruments. Instead  we aim to demonstrate that a greenhouse gas-neutral Germany can largely be achieved using technical measures. We hope to provoke discussion about our sustainable  greenhouse gas-neutral future. Further study will be required  for example into the extent to which lifestyle changes can help make our greenhouse gas-neutral target easier to achieve. | 
 | 
 | 
 |