EurActiv: Europe is coming to terms with energy, climate policies

Of course Europe cannot solve the world's climate problem on its own. But it can deliver the stable framework conditions for a new wave of energy investments, including a strengthened ETS and ambitious targets for renewable energy and energy efficiency, writes Hans-Joachim Reck.

In May 2011, two months after the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Germany decided to end the use of nuclear power by 2022 and to target an 80% share of renewable energy by 2050.

That meant a paradigm shift in post-war economic policy. A vast majority of citizens supported the so-called “Energiewende”, the turnaround of the energy system. This was mainly due to two reasons: first, the use of nuclear power has been highly criticised as potentially dangerous by many during the last few decades and second, people attach more and more importance to climate change mitigation policies. However, the German “Energiewende” proved to be a courageous political undertaking because the decision was taken quite ad hoc and without the involvement of the other EU Member States.
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