News | Climate Change

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-12/germany-greenhouse-emissions-rose-4-3-in-2010-stayed-below-kyoto-target.html

German greenhouse-gas emissions rose 4.3 percent last year to 960 million metric tons as Europe’s largest economy recovered and were still below the country’s ceiling under the climate-protection Kyoto Protocol.

Germany’s 2010 discharges were 23.1 percent lower than in 1990, the baseline year under the United Nations emissions- reduction treaty, the Federal Environment Agency said today in a statement. The country’s target under the protocol is a 21 percent reduction in 2008-2012, translating into an average annual limit of 974 million tons of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.
Last year’s emissions of carbon dioxide, blamed by scientists for global warming, rose 5.4 percent to 831.5 million metric tons, according to the agency.
“The steep increase in CO2 emissions is mainly a result of the economic recovery and the cold weather,” it said. “The expansion of renewable energies in 2010 compared with the previous year allowed a savings of nine million tons of CO2.”
The cold weather last year boosted the use of coal and natural gas for heating, according to the agency. Additionally, the growth of steel production by 34 percent last year translated into higher coal consumption.
Methane emissions dropped 1.1 percent to 48.3 million tons last year while discharges of nitrous oxide declined 3.9 percent to 64.3 million tons, the agency said.
Discharges of hydrofluorocarbons, used in refrigeration and air conditioning, increased 1.3 percent to 12.1 million tons in 2010 and emissions of sulfur hexafluoride, used mainly in insulation and protective glass, were 6.7 percent higher at 3.4 million tons. Perfluorocarbons, also monitored under the Kyoto Protocol, were unchanged at about 400,000 tons.