What can we do
Not blame but leverage: where can the most be saved, and how hard is it? For every facility in the atlas the strongest modelled reduction strategy, aggregated here to the national picture.
The values are modelled potential, not a plan: what would be possible if every source implemented its strongest lever. No commitment, no forecast, a guide to where the big levers are.
Reduction potential
Climate TRACE determines, for every emission source, the strongest reduction strategy and the estimated annual CO₂e saving.
Sum of the single strongest strategy per facility, if all were implemented.
By sector
Biggest levers (strategies)
Data source: Climate TRACE, Emissions Reduction Solutions (ers_plan_global v5.8.0), CC BY 4.0. Modelled per-source potentials, aggregated.
In the atlas the strategy is shown on each individual facility, click a point.
Renewable capacity by state
The solution side for real: how much renewable capacity is on the grid, and where? Installed gross capacity (operating units) by federal state, by technology.
The build-out is very uneven: Brandenburg and the north are wind country, the south is strong on solar and hydro, offshore wind sits in the North/Baltic Sea (EEZ).
Data source: Marktstammdatenregister (Bundesnetzagentur), full data export, DL-DE-BY-2.0. Operating units only, own aggregation by state.
At which level does the lever work?
The numbers above show where the big levers physically sit, at facilities and in power generation, not at the light switch. For action that means: not every level has the same weight. Honestly ordered by impact, biggest lever first.
Systemic / political
The biggest lever. Power mix, efficiency standards, carbon pricing, planning and building law decide the emissions per kilowatt-hour and per facility, set in politics and large investments. Influenced through your vote, voice, participation, and profession.
Direct lever: largestCollective: the squad
The core of this project. Watch a region or a facility together, share the patterns, pool demand and pressure. That turns individual behaviour into visible, negotiable impact. The bridge between what one person can do and what the system decides.
Direct lever: high when pooledIndividual
Everyday consumption, what I buy and how I economise, has a limited lever: the emissions per kilowatt-hour are decided on the generation side. Far bigger are the rare investment decisions: heating, insulation, car, green electricity tariff. Overall the smallest of the three levers, but not zero.
Direct lever: limitedThat individual action counts as the central lever is partly framing: the term “personal carbon footprint” was popularised from 2004 on by a PR campaign of the oil company BP. That doesn't devalue your own action. It puts it in perspective: the big lever is in the system, not in guilt. Orders of magnitude & the origin of the “footprint”
Why together
One person alone barely sees their share and can't move the system. A squad can: watch the same region or facility together, share how it develops, ask questions and act together. The atlas is the tool for that, not to accuse, but to understand together.