That slow progress is in part because wind and solar energy are replacing nuclear power -a low-emissions power source-instead of coal. To reach its 2030 targets, it may need to triple the pace of its emissions cuts. The country has pledged to reach net-zero emissions by 2045, but it missed its climate targets for both 20. While Germany has made major progress on installing renewable energy like wind and solar, emissions from its electricity sector have been shockingly slow to fall. Shutting down nuclear power plants could be a big setback for climate goals. So what does all this have to do with climate change?
local time, Germany’s last nuclear power plant disconnected from the electricity grid.
The shutdown was delayed from October 2022 because of concerns about energy security related to the war in Ukraine. German chancellor Angela Merkel pushed to speed up closures and finish the job by 2022. After some flip-flopping, things came to a head again in 2011 with the Fukushima accident in Japan. After lots of protests, the government made a plan to shut down all nuclear power plants. Questions about what to do with nuclear waste started to grow as well. After a few incidents in the 1980s (including small ones inside Germany, not to mention Chernobyl in what’s now Ukraine), public support for nuclear power began to erode. Here’s the SparkNotes version of what’s been happening: There’s been a long and drawn-out battle in Germany over nuclear that’s lasted for decades. The whole situation highlights what I see as a major question in the climate movement today: Where exactly should nuclear fit in? What’s been going on with nuclear power in Germany? Germany’s true challenge is ahead, as the country tries to meet ambitious climate goals without the steady electricity supply that nuclear provides. But others see it as a major potential roadblock for climate action-while nuclear plants have been shuttered left and right, coal power has chugged along, providing a huge chunk of the country’s electricity and spewing emissions all the while. Some consider this a victory, cheering as Germany moves away from an electricity source they see as dangerous and flawed. 
Earlier this month, the nation shut down the last of its nuclear power plants, 60 years after the first one began operation.
Just a decade ago, Germany was using nuclear power to meet about a quarter of its electricity demand, but now nuclear’s watch is ended. We’re gathered here today to commemorate the demise of a towering figure in the energy world: nuclear power in Germany.
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