CO2 -MONITORING IN GERMAN INDUSTRY: TARGET ACHIEVEMENT IN 1997

Abstract

German Industry and Trade entered into a voluntary commitment, to make special efforts to reduce its specific CO₂ emissions and its specific energy consumption by 20% by the year 2005 (base 1990). To verify the obligations

taken on, it was agreed that there should be accompanying CO2  monitoring where the reduction results would be presented at annual intervals and verified for conformity with the targets. The Rhine-Westphalia Institute for

Economic Research (RWI) was appointed to perform this monitoring. 

In 1997 RWI presented the first monitoring report, dealing with the special methodical and empirical or statistical problems and the target achievement  in 1995 and 1996. The second report, based on the development in 1997 contains a detailed analysis of the growing energy efficiency in the different sectors of German industry and points out the specific importance of structural change and business cycle fluctuations for the absolute target achievement in 1997. This report demonstrates that these variables both are of great importance for the target achievement, especially in case of an absolute CO2 -reduction target. Above this a large number of actions could be identified which document the special efforts to reduce CO2 emissions. Even if the actions cannot be attributed to the voluntary obligation alone, they still

document the intensive efforts to achieve a more rational use of energy and a reduction in CO2 . The comparison of the declared objectives with the efficiency improvements or CO2  reductions already achieved shows that in some industries - even more than in 1996 - the target was almost achieved as early as 1997. This should be an incentive to reconsider the targets.