Germany’s been a global leader in energy policy for some time now. (For what it’s worth, we picked Germany as the “model” for the Cascadia Scorecard’s energy indicator because it was doing such a bang-up job with its energy policy.)
And if anything, it looks like their efforts to reduce emissions are picking up steam:
German use of oil, gas and coal in 2007 fell by 5.6 per cent compared with 2006, according to a new report from [oil company] BP…
The report emerged as the German government passed a new round of environmental laws designed to ensure the country meets ambitious carbon dioxide reduction targets.
I took a look at the BP Statistical Review of World Energy—and the news report is correct: Germany has made some impressive strides in reducing energy consumption, not just recently, but over the course of a decade. The graph to the right shows oil consumption per person—which has fallen by 18 percent since 1997.
File this in the “Yes, sane energy policy is possible” file.