German companies and public institutions should heat their offices to a maximum of 19 degrees Celsius this winter to help reduce natural gas consumption, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said.
Although Germany, the European Union’s largest economy, is quickly trying to wean itself off using natural gas from Russia in response to the war in Ukraine, it still uses far more Russian gas than many other EU countries.
Russia has already stopped gas exports to several EU countries, and officials fear that Moscow will use gas exports as a political weapon to reduce sanctions on Russia, or even completely stop exports to Europe during the winter, when demand is the highest, reports Tanjug.
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said that while the 27 EU countries have pledged to cut gas consumption by 15 percent from August, Germany needs to cut consumption by as much as 20 percent.