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.