Germany will maintain its ambitious climate targets: Chancellor Merz

BERLIN

Germany will maintain its ambitious climate targets, Chancellor Friedrich Merz confirmed Tuesday, one week before the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Brazil.

“We want to maintain the targets. We want to achieve them by developing technologies that help us reach these goals,” Merz told reporters during a visit to the northern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

“We want less regulation and we want to open up more technological possibilities,” the chancellor said, adding that Germany’s environment minister will present this position during a key EU meeting in Brussels today.

EU environment ministers met Tuesday to discuss amendments to the European climate law, aiming to establish a binding intermediate climate target for 2040. The European Commission proposed reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2040, compared to 1990 levels.

Ahead of the meeting, German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider expressed Berlin’s strong support for the European Commission’s proposals.

“Today is a special day for the environmental and climate protection policy in Germany, in Europe, and also in the world. Today we face a decision about our direction for the next 15 years,” Schneider told reporters.

“We support the European Commission’s proposal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90% in comparison to 1990. The EU has always been a leader in international cooperation to heal our world and protect the climate and to put it in the spotlight. The EU must be at the forefront of this,” he said.

In February 2025, Merz's Christian Democrats and the Social Democratic Party formed Germany's coalition government, reaffirming their commitment to German and European climate targets. The government pledges to achieve climate neutrality by 2045 in line with the Paris Agreement. It also supports a 65% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and the European target of reducing emissions by 90% by 2040, both measured against 1990 levels.