Madhumitha Jaganmohan
Research expert covering climate and environmental sustainability
Get in touch with us nowGermany’s energy policy
The nuclear exit is part of the energy transition policy (Energiewende) of the country and, according to the Renewable Energy Source Act (Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz) introduced in 2000, renewables are supposed to fill the gap left by nuclear power. The electricity production from clean energy sources was indeed heavily subsidized and it increased almost sevenfold between 2000 and 2022. Germany plans to double the share of renewable energy in its gross electricity consumption by 2030, to reach 80 percent.However, a few lignite-fired plants were temporarily reopened after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in open contradiction with Germany’s climate goal of having a carbon-neutral power grid by 2045. Germany is already among the largest absolute CO2 emitters in the European Union and does not plan to phase-out coal, the most polluting fossil fuel, before 2030. While this is exactly what the Renewable Energy Source Act aimed to prevent, the impression according to public opinion is that Germany has “chosen” coal over nuclear.
Nuclear power in Europe
During the 2022 energy crisis, Germany was urged to rethink its withdrawal from nuclear energy, as many other European countries did. For instance, the United Kingdom recently took a solid stance on this energy source, including it among the clean energy sources in its green taxonomy. Two nuclear reactors were under construction in the country in 2023. Other European countries that are currently planning the construction of nuclear plants are Russia, Turkey, and France, the latter of which is one of the world's nuclear energy leaders. Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, and Sweden plan to phase-out nuclear energy in the future, although during 2022 some of them postponed their phase-out date.
