On 9 April 2025, Germany’s incoming government of Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and Social Democrats (SPD) concluded a governing ‘contract’ that paves the way for the partners to take office in May. The new chancellor will be CDU chief Friedrich Merz, who underscored in the campaign that climate protection would not be a top priority. Paul Hockenos reports.
All posts tagged: Germany
Germany’s new government can’t just walk away from climate protection
Since 2019, Germany’s Climate Protection Act has had aimed to reduce Germany’s carbon emissions to zero by 2045. The incoming new government has to adhere to this law. Will it though?
Germany’s mixed record disappoints the climate conscious
Despite a record rollout of renewables, expectations for a notably greener Germany have not been met. Environmental think tanks and NGOs are taking their gripes to court to make the German government comply with German law – and the coalitions’ own promises. Paul Hockenos reports.
Atomic fission without borders: the looming threat of Germany’s nuclear neighbours
Germany’s citizenry now no longer lives with the threat of a nuclear accident happening within its own borders. But five of the nine states – France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the Czech Republic – along its periphery host nuclear power plants. And Germans, many of whom still remember the radioactive cloud from the Chernobyl meltdown wafting over central Europe in the spring of 1986, know that a mishap at one of these aging stations would imperil them as well. Paul Hockenos reports. Read More
Germany’s Springer media gets the climate crisis so wrong
The new evidence that the German CEO of Europe’s largest media publisher, Axel Springer, (mis)uses his flagship tabloid, the arch-conservative Bild, to advance his personal views on the climate crisis and climate activism is hardly surprising, as the Springer Media group has been mixing right-wing politics and public information for decades. But 2023-leaked emails and text messages have exposed Axel Springer chief executive and part owner Mathias Döpfner’s unvarnished personal views on these issues and others. Paul Hockenos reports. Read More
Germany and LNG | The Global Energy Transition Podcast
In response to Russia’s invasion and brutal war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022, many European nations, particularly Germany, have banned Russian fossil fuels imports. For Germany this has meant not only finding new sources of liquified natural gas (LNG), but also spurred the government to establish several new LNG terminals. However, LNG, which is mainly cooled and compressed methane, represents a major source of climate-harming emissions. Read More
Germany’s superhighway should change, for the better
Horsepower-flush automobiles and the 7,200-mile highway system that accommodates those vehicles, called the autobahn, belong to Germany’s national mythology. For decades, German drivers have relished the ostensible perk of its long stretches of asphalt without a speed limit. But the climate crisis has called this cherished tradition into question, prompting Germans to rethink their relationship to internal combustion engines – and to the autobahn itself, writes Paul Hockenos.
Innovative start-ups highlight the breadth of the clean energy transition
When looking at clean energy expansion and the drive toward a sustainable future, it makes sense to start with the big picture. After all, one can easily get lost in the myriad of bit pieces. But the micro is important, too, and there’s a universe of innovation happening in the private sector: small start-ups that are filling niches in the sustainable economy (like Tesla once did.) An annual competition organized by the German Energy Agency’s Start-Up Energy Transition reflects the private sector’s advances on the countless parts of the larger Energiewende.
When Germany Can’t Give it Away: Negative-Price Power Hours
In 2022, negative prices occurred during 69 of the total of 8,760 hourly prices in German day-ahead trading. Last year, there were 139 cases of hours when utilities had to pay to give away electricity. This adds to the high price of electricity in Germany, but it doesn’t explain it. Paul Hockenos has the details.
Despite Fossil Fuel Price Rise, Germany’s Emissions Miss Target
Although overall energy consumption fell, Germany’s emissions declined only slightly: because coal-fired power plants stepped in for Russian gas. A leading German energy think tank argues that Germany has to undertake structural reforms to get on track. Nevertheless, Germany’s emissions are lower than ever before – evidence that Germany can hit targets by replacing fossil fuels with renewables. The catch is that once replaced, fossil fuels must be eliminated from energy production altogether. Experts think that Germany can still phase out all coal-fired generation by 2030.