Germany's moratorium on nuclear power generation will add around 25 million metric tons a year to the country's carbon dioxide emissions, which will have to be offset elsewhere by replacing coal-fired power with cleaner gas-burning plants, the International Energy Agency said Friday.

The shutdown of Germany 's nuclear plants will take out about 50 terawatt hours of low-carbon electricity a year, said Laszlo Varro, the head of the IEA's Gas, Coal and Power Markets division in a telephone briefing. Germany is subject to European CO2 emissions caps so this increase will need to be offset elsewhere, he said.

"Somebody has to reduce CO2 emissions by 25 million tons," he said. This could occur in any part of Europe , because emissions allowances can be traded across borders, Varro said.

The nuclear moratorium, in response to the Fukushima disaster in Japan , will set back the decarbonization of Germany 's power sector by a couple of years, he said.

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