Germany gets serious about emissions

摘要

Germany is often overlooked in discussions of global oil demand.A big market,yes,but mature and quite stable-nothing to see here,in other words.But the Covid-19 crisis is shaking things up,acting as a trigger for Berlin to kick-start a major carbon reduction programme that will have big implications for oil use.In December,just before the pandemic reached Europe,Germany adopted a highly ambitious 2030 climate action plan,including a carbon tax,to drastically cut fossil fuel consumption in the transport and heating sectors.But German chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government has used the Covid-induced demand shock to accelerate and intensify some of these carbon reduction measures,of which the most innovative is a long-term strategy for hydrogen.