Saxony-Anhalt: Slight decline in greenhouse gas emissions in 2025

In Saxony-Anhalt, climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions fell slightly last year.

According to current estimates from the State Office for Environmental Protection (LAU), around 26.6 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents were emitted in the country in 2025, around 8,000 tonnes less than in 2024, as the Environment Ministry in Magdeburg announced. “While emissions fell last year, particularly in the energy industry, greenhouse gas emissions increased in the areas of transport, industry and buildings.”

Compared to 1990, CO2 emissions in Saxony-Anhalt will have fallen by around 54 percent by 2025 - and therefore slightly more than the German average (48 percent), according to the Environment Ministry. The aim of the federal climate protection law is to reduce CO2 emissions in Germany by 88 percent by 2040 compared to the reference year 1990.

Environment and Climate Protection Minister Armin Willingmann (SPD) explained that the decline in CO2 emissions in industry in recent years had only been partly due to savings; the economic weakness also had an impact here. "It is therefore not surprising if, as economic dynamism increases, more greenhouse gases are emitted here. Overall, the state of Saxony-Anhalt is on the right track when it comes to climate protection. This should be continued in the coming years, because the effects of climate change in the form of longer periods of heat and drought were also clearly felt in Saxony-Anhalt this summer," says Willingmann.