BERLIN, September 27 — Germany’s cabinet has approved a national roadmap to phase out oil, coal and gas across the energy, industry, buildings and transport sectors, reaffirming the country’s legally binding target of greenhouse gas neutrality by 2045.
The document states that “this roadmap lays out the policy framework and the key strategies Germany will be pursuing in the various sectors in order to achieve its goal of climate neutrality and thus transition away from the use of fossil fuels no later than 2045.” Germany becomes the third country to publish such a national plan, after France and the Netherlands. The economic case is hard to miss.
Germany’s net imports of fossil fuels cost about 76 billion euros (about US$82 billion) in 2024, according to the government. Environment minister Carsten Schneider highlighted that the strategy was about more than climate protection, saying “the money we previously spent on importing” fossil fuels could be redirected. Germany remains heavily dependent on imports, which cover around 98 percent of oil, 95 percent of fossil gas, and all hard coal consumed; lignite is the only major domestic fossil fuel source.
In 2025, oil, coal and fossil gas made up more than three quarters of the energy the country used. Oil is mainly needed as a transport fuel, coal to generate electricity and heat as well as in certain industries, and gas is used for heating, industry and electricity.
Wind power, solar PV, biomass and hydropower covered about 56 percent of Germany’s electricity consumption in 2025. The roadmap notes that the renewables-based system of the future will require significantly less primary energy, as electric vehicles, heat pumps and other electricity-based technologies are much more efficient, meaning not every joule of energy from fossil fuels used today must be replaced with renewables.
Domestic criticism, international signal
Burning fossil fuels caused over 83 percent of Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2024, the roadmap notes, and reducing emissions is “inextricably linked” to gradually transitioning away from fossil fuels. The approval follows the launch at last year’s UN climate conference by Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of a process to create a global roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels (TAFF).
Global efforts to exit oil, coal and gas continue to stall in formal UN climate negotiations, though a group of about 60 governments met in Santa Marta, Colombia, earlier this year to provide the process with fresh impetus alongside the COP process. Outgoing UN secretary-general António Guterres this week urged all governments to provide national roadmaps.
Civil society groups welcomed the roadmap’s international signal. Petter Lydén, head of international climate policy at Germanwatch, said “we expect other countries to now present their roadmaps as well,” adding that the UN climate change conference COP31 in Turkey in November offers an excellent platform. Environmental groups criticised lagging domestic action by the current coalition government.
Fentje Jacobsen, co-head of the climate and energy department at WWF Germany, said “this once again highlights the glaring discrepancy between Germany’s international stance and its domestic actions,” arguing the plan merely reiterated existing targets without setting additional ambitions. A spokesperson for the environment ministry confirmed at a press conference that the plan sets out well-known measures the country has previously decided on.
The criticism points to policies including gas-plant subsidies and a contested renewables reform that groups say work against the transition at home. What to watch next is whether other governments follow Berlin’s lead before COP31 in Turkey in November, and whether Germany’s domestic policies — the gas-plant subsidies and the renewables reform among them — are brought into line with the roadmap the cabinet has now approved.
