STORY: According to a study, the increased use of coal-fired power plants as a gas substitute thwarted the German climate goals last year 2022. Although overall energy consumption fell by almost five percent, mainly because of the high prices, the use of coal and oil canceled out the greenhouse gas savings, according to an analysis by the think tank Agora Energiewende published on Wednesday. Simon Müller, head of the think tank “Agora Energiewende”: “We were also surprised, a double surprise. On the one hand, historically low energy consumption, on the other hand, stagnating emissions. How can that be? The reason for this is that we have more coal in the energy system, not that much at all , but coal is just so bad for the climate that it leads to this negative overall effect.” Agora boss Simon Müller also pointed out that the traffic light coalition had so far failed to deliver its announced immediate climate protection program. The government must turn the tide by 2023. In the opinion of the federal government, however, one sees oneself on the right track, as Wolfgang Büchner emphasized on Wednesday in Berlin: Wolfang Büchner, deputy government spokesman: “We have already passed comprehensive, ambitious legislative packages. The climate protection emergency program should ensure that Germany is on the right path to achieve its climate protection goals for 2030. And that involves a great many different measures.” However, Agora calculates that there is still room for improvement when it comes to climate protection in Germany. For example in the transport and building sector. There, too, the requirements could not be met again last year. According to preliminary figures, Germany produced 761 million tons of greenhouse gas, almost exactly as much as in 2021. The self-imposed upper limit for 2022 was thus missed by around five million tons.