BERLIN — Germany says its greenhouse gas emissions dropped by 8.4 percent last year due to a drop in industrial activity amid the economic crisis.
Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said today the emissions reduction by 80 million tons in Europe's largest economy was the deepest in 60 years.
He says preliminary 2009 figures show carbon dioxide emissions alone fell by 68 million tons — 8.2 percent — while energy use was down 6.5 percent and less coal was used. Germany's gross domestic product also dropped 5 percent in 2009.
Germany promised in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to lower emissions by 21 percent by 2012, but is already at 28.7 percent reduction. Roettgen says more measures are needed to combat climate change and continue the trend after the end of the economic crisis.
