The amendment to the Energiewende- und Klimaschutzgesetzes (EWKG) came into force on 17 December 2021. The Act formulates targets and specific measures to help achieve the state's climate protection goals. The new version of the targets in the EWKG 2021 builds on the new climate protection targets that were agreed for Germany following the Federal Constitutional Court's ruling on climate protection: According to this, greenhouse gas emissions at federal level are to be reduced by at least 65 per cent by 2030, by at least 88 per cent by 2040 and by 2045 compared to 1990 levels to such an extent that net greenhouse gas neutrality is achieved nationally.
After 2050, negative greenhouse gas emissions are also to be achieved nationwide. The percentage reduction rates in the sectors associated with the sector targets for 2030 in the Federal Climate Protection Act compared to the average for the years 2017 to 2019 should also be achieved and, if possible, exceeded in Schleswig-Holstein.
For the land use, land use change and forestry sector in Schleswig-Holstein, the aim is now to gradually reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, the state government is obliged to include these emissions in the annual monitoring, to set up a programme for the protection of moors and to report at least once per legislative period on the measures it has implemented and planned for biological climate protection. The background to this is the great importance of biological sinks such as moors and forests.
