Cold 2025 brings slight increase in German energy use, emissions
Clean Energy Wire
Germany’s energy consumption and related carbon dioxide emissions are set to rise slightly in 2025 following colder winter months at the start of the year, preliminary calculations by energy market research group AG Energiebilanzen (AGEB) show. Compared to 2024, primary energy consumption is expected to rise by around 1 percent, while energy-related CO2 emissions are forecast to increase by around 0.3 percent.
In the past, energy-related CO2 emissions — where fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas or mineral oil are converted into electricity and heat — made up about 85 percent of all annual greenhouse gas emissions in Germany. Other greenhouse gas emissions, like methane in the agriculture sector, are not included.
Energy consumption would have fallen slightly in 2025 had it not been for the significantly colder weather early in the year, which led to a noticeable increase in heat energy consumption, AGEB said. Meanwhile, a decline in production, particularly from energy-intensive industries, limited overall energy consumption.
Germany’s energy mix was slightly more carbon-intensive in the first three quarters of the year than the same period in 2024. Coal use in Germany continued to decline, but the share of oil and gas in the energy mix rose slightly to 38.1 and 25 percent respectively (39.9 and 24.4% in 2024). The share of renewables in the energy mix increased slightly to 20.2 percent (from 20%).
Germany’s primary energy consumption had fallen in recent years as the country’s economy remains weak and energy-intensive industries reduced production. The country’s energy use still depends largely on fossil fuels, as oil dominates as a transport fuel and fossil gas is used widely for heating and in industry.
Germany has made less progress on its targets to reduce energy demand than on its renewables targets. Increasing energy efficiency is generally seen as a main pillar of the energy transition and essential to reaching the country's target of climate neutrality by 2045. The country's energy efficiency law sets the target to reduce primary energy consumption by 39.3 percent by 2030, relative to 2008. As more and more sectors are electrified, with technologies ranging from EVs to heat pumps, energy use will decline because less is wasted as heat. That means only parts of today's consumption of fossil fuels will have to be replaced by renewable energy.
