Luxembourg burns under the sun – and the Ministry of the Environment publishes a climate report that downplays the situation
As required by law, the Ministry of the Environment published a provisional assessment of CO₂ emissions in Luxembourg on 31 July. The central message: Luxembourg is meeting its reduction targets for 2025. All is well, one might think.
Unfortunately, this is far from the case: a more detailed reading paints a very negative picture. It is only thanks to the transport sector that Luxembourg is meeting its climate targets! Transport is saving the other sectors, because it is in this area that the reduction of CO₂ emissions currently (!) exceeds the set target and compensates for the missing reductions in other sectors.
The balance sheet in the other sectors is extremely sobering (this is mentioned by the Ministry, but no conclusions are drawn):
- In the residential and tertiary buildings sector, emissions are actually rising again! The trend is clearly heading in the wrong direction — the 2025 target value is exceeded by 25.9%!
- The situation in the industrial sector is equally problematic: while emissions in this area are slightly declining, they are still 31.4% above the target value!
- In the area of agriculture and forestry, there is unfortunately again an upward trend, although the 2025 target is still approximately met.
In plain terms: the situation is anything but rosy. For if Luxembourg wants to advance decarbonisation — i.e. reduce dependence on fossil fuels to become more independent from autocracies and rising energy prices and finally take climate protection seriously — we are currently missing our medium and long-term targets in a dramatic way. It is not enough for initiatives in one sector — in this case transport — to deliver the necessary reductions.
A reversal and a reduction are required in all sectors! A turning of the tide towards far lower CO₂ emissions! And Luxembourg is far from achieving this!
This government should express great thanks to the previous one. For the original draft climate protection law contained consistent measures defining how to respond if a sector failed to meet its targets. Incomprehensibly, this provision was removed in the final text and replaced by the principle that another sector would then step in… An absolute mistake!
For even if the transport sector is still doing well right now, the figures show that we are far from reaching the targets enshrined in the national energy and climate plan, for example around electric mobility. In 2026, to meet these targets, 70% of new registrations would need to be electric vehicles. Yet up to May of this year, the figure was only 30%. And the government is now also planning to increase support for inefficient plug-in hybrids around company car taxation — which would further worsen the already problematic situation.
And finally: the tripartite decisions are also likely to boost fuel tourism again. It is therefore less the transport sector that will turn things around.
Conclusion: Luxembourg’s current climate protection policy has failed. No change of course has been initiated to date, either in the building sector, nor in industry, nor in other sectors.
Luxembourg finally needs a climate protection policy worthy of the name. Unless we are indifferent to contributing to future generations suffering even more from heatwaves, water shortages, forest dieback and other consequences.
The statement is available as a PDF in the Downloads section.
Mouvement Ecologique asbl
3 August 2026