Germany unveils roadmap for transitioning away from fossil fuels

Carsten Schneider, Germany’s federal minister of the environment, unveiled the nation’s roadmap for transitioning away from fossil fuels at the United Nations in New York, the German government announced Sept. 23.

The ministry had previously presented this roadmap to the federal cabinet.

This makes Germany the third country, after France and the Netherlands, to present a plan of this kind.

At the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai, the international community decided to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels.

With the roadmap, Germany is seeking to galvanize the process and prompt as many other nations as possible to finalize their own plans.

“Transitioning away from fossil fuels is crucial to the success of climate action,” Germany’s ministry of the environment stated. “Seventy-five percent of global emissions stem from the combustion of coal, oil and gas.”

Schneider said, “The current global situation is lending new momentum to international climate policy. It is not just extreme weather events around the world that show how urgently more climate action is needed. More and more countries are realizing just how costly and dangerous their dependence on fossil fuels is. When the situation in the Strait of Hormuz determines whether people can still afford their daily commute to work, something is seriously wrong. We need to break our dependence on fossil fuels—and we can. The roadmap outlines not only a climate strategy, but also an economic policy strategy. The money we previously spent on importing oil and gas will, in the future, be increasingly channeled into creating local value. Transitioning away from fossil fuels combines independence, affordability and climate action. We hope to set an example internationally with our roadmap. I am confident that many other countries will follow suit.”

In 2024, fossil fuels still accounted for 65 percent of Germany’s energy consumption: petroleum (36 percent) natural gas (24 percent) and coal (5 percent), according to the ministry.

Ninety-eight percent of petroleum and 95 percent of natural gas were imported.

The total costs of fossil fuel imports in 2024 amounted to 76-billion euros (USD$86.7 billion).

These costs have risen drastically since the Iran crisis. 

Germany’s roadmap focuses on the growing use of renewable energy to generate electricity and on the electrification of transport, heating and industrial processes.

The ministry noted that Germany is also working with other countries to transition away from fossil fuels.

One example is the energy-transition partnership with South Africa, which is focused on phasing out coal and expanding electricity grids and renewable energy. 

“Since last year’s UN Climate Change Conference in Brazil (COP30), transitioning away from fossil fuels has been high on the international agenda,” Germany’s environment ministry stated. “The Brazilian COP30 Presidency is set to publish an international roadmap for transitioning away from fossil fuels in October. In April, 57 pioneering countries, including Germany, met in Santa Marta at the first international conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels to discuss how to successfully phase out coal, oil and gas. After the conference, several work processes were established to strengthen international cooperation on key issues related to the transition. The Turkish and Australian COP31 presidencies are also aiming to further accelerate global electrification.”

While the plan provides the substantive basis and framework for Germany to achieve greenhouse-gas neutrality by 2045, Dieter Bockey with Germany’s UFOP said challenges and problems are glossed over, such as the infrastructure development for electricity feed-in and electrification—for example in transport and buildings—which is “lagging behind schedule and regionally unbalanced,” as well as the additional expenditure for the state and private households.

“At the very least,” Bockey said, “the fundamental and established importance of sustainable biofuels is emphasized [in the roadmap]—‘sustainable biofuels are already helping to replace fossil fuels in the vehicle fleet, alongside electrification. In particular, advanced biofuels produced from agricultural residues and waste that can be sustainably sourced—such as straw, slurry and manure—offer significant potential.’”

Bockey added that while bio-oil and greenhouse-gas quotas are mentioned in the report’s section on the buildings sector, he said, “UFOP finds it regrettable that the national legislation for a GHG quota act, with the ambitious targets currently agreed upon and due to be met by 2040, is not listed, even though the transposition of RED III into national law across member states confirms its exemplary role.”

Bockey concluded that, “In substance, the report contains nothing new, but it does provide a summary overview of the situation and development prospects for renewable energy across all sectors.”

Click here to access the roadmap.