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Only energy-related CO2 emissions are considered here. Those resulting from industrial processes (an estimated 25 million tonnes) are not included in the analysis. The data base for the following calculations is provided by the energy balances for Germany published by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Energiebilanzen and estimations of primary energy consumption in 1998.
It is to be noted that, alongside natural gases, the term ‘gases’ includes liquid gas and refinery gas, coking gas, town gas and top gas. Quite apart from data revisions as new information has become available, this means that the emission figures given for the various fossil fuels deviate from those published in earlier work by the DIW in which emissions resulting from the combustion of liquid gas and refinery gas were classified under petroleum, while emissions of coking gas, town gas and top gas came under coal.
The temperature adjustment procedure for energy consumption is described in a DIW report to the Federal Ministry of the Economy, September 1995 (available in German as a manuscript).
It is no longer possible to analyse emission trends separately for east and west Germany, as separate energy data are only available up to 1995.
This means that the emissions resulting from the generation of secondary energy sources (electricity and district heat) are not credited to the final-user sectors (where their use does not lead to emissions), but rather as direct emissions to power stations and heat-power stations. The sectoral structure of emissions is based on the classification used in the energy balances. To this extent deviations from figures from other sources are possible.
It is to be noted that, in accordance with the approach agreed at international level, the transport-related CO2 emissions do not include those due to international air transport. For Germany it is assumed that international air travel accounts for 80% of the fuel consumption recorded in Germany for air transport.
In this context the apparently sharp fall in CO2 emissions in 1997 compared with the previous year should not be over-interpreted, because it largely reflects—as can be seen from figure 1-the very cold weather in 1996 on the one hand and the very mild climate in 1997 on the other. Indeed, allowing for the temperature effect, emissions in 1997 would actually have been higher than in 1996. This statement does not apply to all sectors, however, as this effect is likely to have been most pronounced in the private household and CSO sectors, where room heating plays an important role. Even so, the impact of the higher temperature will not have been negligible even in the other sectors.
The official statistics cover the following fuels: electricity, coal, lignite, light and heavy heating oil, town/coking gas and natural gas, whereby no account is taken of the use to which they are put; thus the figures cover the use of fuels as a raw material and own electricity generation. Consequently, energy consumption according to this definition is not strictly comparable to final energy consumption as classified in the energy balances. The CO2 emissions are calculated on the basis of the specific emission factors used by the Federal Environmental Office.
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Ziesing, HJ. CO2 emissions in Germany: Still not on the target trajectory. Economic Bulletin 36, 13–20 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10160-999-0007-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10160-999-0007-2