Germany’s conservative-led government announced more ambitious plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions on Wednesday, prodded by a constitutional court ruling and with an eye to the opposition Greens’ lead in polls ahead of elections in September. The court said last week the government had failed to set out how it would bring carbon emissions down beyond 2030 after a group of plaintiffs, including North Sea islanders fearing inundation from climate change – challenged the 2019 climate law as unfit for purpose. read more Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said Germany would now aim for a 65% cut in carbon emissions by 2030 and 88% by 2040. Under the new targets, Germany will also aim for nearly net zero emissions by 2045, rather than 2050 as initially planned, he said. The existing climate law, agreed between […]