The German Parliament recently passed legislation meant to lessen carbon dioxide emissions, through changing the ways that electricity is generated and by doubling the amount of power which comes from renewable energy. The Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, sees this measure as a large victory. Merkel, since the beginning of her reign in 2005, has made climate change a significant part of her policy changes.

It has been difficult to pass such laws in Germany. This is because of all the pressure from the automobile industry. Industries have successfully lobbied against judging the cost of registering cars based on their carbon dioxide level, thus this measure can be very positively received especially because of the difficulty it took to pass it.

In addition to the automobile industry, the industries which use a great deal of energy have also fought against such legislation, fearing the shift in energy sources that this sort of legislation would cause.

This law is aimed to increase renewable energy, so that by 2020 thirty percent of Germany’s energy will be from renewable energy sources. Currently fourteen percent of Germany’s energy comes from renewable energy sources, thus by passing such legislation by 2020 Germany’s renewable energy dependency will double.

In addition to this legislation, there will be other legislation in the near future which will be designed to lower energy consumption. The legislation will be directed to private homes. It could include measures which would push new homes to meet higher energy efficiency standards.

At the Group of Eight meeting last year, the leaders of the Group of Eight nations agreed to lessen carbon dioxide emissions, by half by the year 2050. These nations included Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, France, Russia, the United States and Japan.

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