Germany has released a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels by 2045, becoming the third country after France and the Netherlands to publish such a plan after the COP28 commitment.
Fossil fuels still accounted for about 65% of Germany’s energy consumption in 2024, with oil making up 36%, natural gas 24% and coal 5%.
Germany imported 98% of its mineral oil, 95% of its natural gas and all of its hard coal, with net fossil fuel imports costing about €76 bn in 2024.
Climate campaigners say the roadmap is a positive signal, but argue that Germany’s 2038 coal phaseout and 2045 fossil fuel exit timeline remain too slow for an equitable global transition.
Germany has laid out a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels by 2045, but coal, oil and gas still accounted for about 65 per cent of its energy consumption in 2024, underlining the scale of the shift required across transport, buildings and industry.
Federal Environment Minister Carsten Schneider presented the roadmap at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 23, 2026. Germany is the third country, after France and the Netherlands, to publish such a plan following the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP 28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) commitment to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels (TAFF).
The roadmap comes ahead of COP31 in Antalya, Turkey, from November 9 to 20, where implementation, clean energy transition and climate finance are expected to be major priorities.
Germany has cut greenhouse gas emissions by about 48 per cent from 1990 levels, while its economy has grown by a similar margin. Renewable energy accounted for about 55 per cent of gross electricity consumption in 2025, with a target of at least 80 per cent by 2030. Under Germany’s Federal Climate Action Act, emissions must fall by at least 65 per cent from 1990 levels by 2030 and 88 per cent by 2040, before reaching net zero in 2045.
In 2024, mineral oil accounted for 36 per cent of Germany’s final energy consumption, natural gas 24 per cent and coal 5 per cent. Fossil fuels were responsible for more than 83 per cent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Germany imported about 98 per cent of its mineral oil, 95 per cent of its natural gas and all of its hard coal. Net fossil fuel imports cost the country about €76 billion in 2024.
The 2026 Climate Action Programme contains 67 measures and is expected to reduce emissions by more than 27 million tonnes by 2030. It includes measures to add 12 GW of wind capacity and support electric vehicles and heating systems.
Germany plans to phase out coal no later than 2038, with the possibility of bringing the date forward to 2035. It also plans greater use of storage, hydrogen and electrification across the energy system.
Fanny Petibon, policy expert at 350.org, told Down To Earth that Germany’s progress in renewable electricity now needed to extend to heating, industry and transport. “Energy efficiency deserves to be treated as a headline priority alongside renewables expansion, not a supporting measure. Germany has shown it can lead on the supply side, the opportunity now is to bring that same ambition to the demand side,” she said.
She called for faster electric vehicle adoption, alongside better public transport, rail and active travel.
Germany is supporting Just Energy Transition Partnerships with South Africa, Indonesia, Vietnam and Senegal, with total German pledges of €5.4 billion. It also has bilateral energy partnerships with 33 countries, including cooperation with India on a green hydrogen roadmap.
Germany provided €11.8 billion in international climate finance in 2024, including €3.9 billion for the energy transition.
Petibon said the finance was significant, but argued for a greater shift from loans to grants, especially for countries such as South Africa that are dealing with high debt. “Global climate finance needs are roughly ten times current flows, so no single country closes that gap alone, but Germany improving its own grant-to-loan ratio would set a strong example for other donors to follow,” she said.
She also raised concerns that proposed cuts in Germany’s draft 2027 federal budget could affect international climate finance. At the same time, Petibon pointed to continued German investment in fossil fuel infrastructure overseas. She cited liquefied natural gas terminals and gas-fired power plants, as well as long-term LNG contracts signed by German companies RWE and SEFE for gas from Louisiana and Texas. “There is a real risk here of a kind of do as I say, not as I do approach,” she said.
Germany’s international role also extends to export finance. The country has proposed changes that could reduce the number of projects subject to detailed climate assessments by about 40 per cent, making government-backed export guarantees faster to obtain.
The proposed framework could allow some gas projects to remain eligible for export finance if they meet conditions linked to hydrogen readiness or carbon capture and storage.
Germany says its export credit policy is aligned with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 degrees Celsius (°C) goal and aims to achieve a net-zero greenhouse gas footprint for its export credit guarantee portfolio by 2050.
Germany provided €20.2 billion in export credit guarantees in 2022, with 82.8 per cent of newly issued guarantee volume going to emerging economies and developing countries. Emissions linked to covered export transactions fell from 35.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2022 to 27.6 million tonnes in 2024.
The roadmap identifies carbon capture, utilisation and storage as an option for industrial emissions that are difficult to eliminate through electrification and other measures. It also proposes carbon contracts for difference to support industrial decarbonisation.
Germany’s coal phaseout also needed to move faster, Petibon said, the planned 2038 deadline should be brought forward to 2030. Pointing to the Lusatia region, where job losses linked to lignite mining have largely been offset by new investment, she said Germany would still need to address population decline and ensure funding for structural change. A successful transition in coal regions could provide lessons for programmes supporting coal-dependent regions in countries such as South Africa and Indonesia, she added.