Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is to hold a special “Klausur” meeting to agree an “integrated climate change/enery package” on 23-24 August. Environment minister Sigmar Gabriel and economy minister Michael Glos reached a compromise one day before the meeting after having been at loggerheads for months. The measures of the deal should lead to a 36% cut of Germany’s carbon emissions by 2020 (compared to 1990). Klima-Allianz, a coalition of 60 environmental and climate change groups, had harsh words for the compromise saying the goals are not binding and coal use is being expanded. More details on this story in Financial Times Germany and Tagesspiegel.
Greenpeace Germany published an interesting CO2 analysis of the proposed measures.
Addition on 24 August: the German cabinet adopted the climate/energy package on their first day of the Klausur meeting. For an overview of some of the 30 measures in the package, read German Focus.
3eintelligence.wordpress.com 
Dear Willy, thanks for covering this – Germany will have an important role in assuring the credibility of climate action plans.
One little mistake: the correct URL for Klima Allianz is
http://www.die-klima-allianz.de
Their reaction to the German climate can be found here:
Click to access PM%20Klima-Allianz%20Kabinettsklausur%202007%20final.pdf
If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes. –Albert Einstein
The question here is not 36 or 40%, but how much of the 36% will be achieved by domestic action.
http://www.leonardo-energy.org/drupal/node/2170