Power cables in Bornheim, 2006. German environment minister Sigmar Gabriel said that Germany plans to boost the percentage of electricity generated by renewable resources to 45 percent by 2030 in a bid to curb global warming.[AFP]

Gabriel told reporters that a progress report on a renewable energy law (EEG) passed in 2000 showed that the country had already surpassed the quota of 12.5 percent set for 2010.

He said Berlin was now setting a more ambitious target to produce at least 20 percent of electricity used in the country with renewable resources such as wind and solar power by 2020 and 45 percent by 2030.

"We can and must raise the bar for 2020 to generate at least 27 percent of all the electricity used with renewable resources," Gabriel said.

"This is the only way we can make a significant contribution to reaching our ambitious EU goals that we passed under the German presidency in March."

Berlin held the rotating EU presidency for the first six months of this year and made curbing climate change one of its top priorities.

The European Union set a goal in March of a 20-percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 compared with 1990 levels, but Germany is aiming to cut up to 40 percent.

Gabriel said Germany had prevented 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from being spewed into the atmosphere last year thanks to renewable energy sources, adding that there were now 214,000 jobs in fields such as wind and solar power.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday at a meeting of political officials, industry representatives and environmental campaigners that Germany would seek to increase energy efficiency by three percent a year until 2020.

She cited fuel-efficient cars, houses with innovative heating systems and energy-saving household appliances as areas the government wanted to see developed.