{"id":444240,"date":"2026-05-14T11:20:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T18:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=444240"},"modified":"2026-05-17T12:57:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T19:57:37","slug":"germanys-nuclear-confession-is-a-crack-in-net-zero-pretense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=444240","title":{"rendered":"Germany\u2019s Nuclear Confession Is a Crack in Net Zero Pretense"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Germany’s admission highlights a major flaw in rigid Net Zero timelines that prioritize intermittent renewables over reliable, low-carbon baseload power.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In early 2026, Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) described the nuclear phase-out as a “serious strategic mistake<\/strong>.” Germany’s Energy Minister echoed this, calling it a “huge mistake”<\/strong> and noting the loss of ~20 GW of affordable, CO\u2082-free generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This followed the final shutdown of the last three reactors (Isar 2, Neckarwestheim 2, Emsland) in April 2023\u2014mid-energy crisis after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine\u2014despite a brief extension. The policy originated post-Fukushima (2011) under Merkel, accelerating an earlier phase-out plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nuclear power supplied ~25% of Germany’s electricity pre-2011 with near-zero operational emissions and high-capacity factors (>90%, dispatchable).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

_____________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From CO2 Coalition<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Vijay Jayaraj<\/p>\n\n\n\n

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has called<\/a> the nuclear phaseout a \u201cserious strategic mistake\u201d that left Germany short of firm power that turned the Energiewende into the most expensive energy transition on the planet. This is an early marker for a developing worldwide retreat from policies that sidelined nuclear power and demonized coal, oil, and natural gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

German and Japanese Nuclear Embarrassment<\/strong>
Germany stubbornly closed its last three functioning nuclear reactors in April 2023 right in the middle of a crippling energy crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine. As pragmatists predicted, German citizens now suffer under punishingly high electricity prices and remain heavily dependent on imported energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The green dream was sold as a route to \u201ccheap\u201d renewables, yet the reality for German households and factories has been record\u2011high electricity prices, complex subsidies for favored businesses and individuals who conform to the climate narrative, and a grid that struggles on windless days or under gray skies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japan made a remarkably similar error but is finally correcting course. After the Fukushima disaster, the government panicked and shut down all 54 of its nuclear reactors. Today, Japan is slowly restarting those idle units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pattern is plain to see. Countries abandon dependable power sources under political pressure, then spend years rebuilding what they had demonized and dismantled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regret Over Abandoning Fossil Fuels<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why I anticipate a cascade of similar reversals by national leaders who participated in a destructive campaign that stripped grids of dependable, affordable, and abundant coal, oil, and natural gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politicians are already quietly hitting the brakes on their aggressive fossil fuel phaseouts when reality bites. The massive Groningen gas field was scheduled for permanent closure due to localized earthquake risks. Yet in 2024, the Dutch Senate delayed the final shutdown vote<\/a> when lawmakers demanded guarantees that abandoning the domestic resource would not jeopardize energy security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within a week of the German chancellor\u2019s admission of a nuclear energy fiasco, the country\u2019s energy minister<\/a> lamented at an oil and gas conference the push of net zero policies, indirectly referencing the abandonment of fossil fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the United States, President Donald Trump took executive actions aimed at preventing some coal plants from closing, including orders that kept aging facilities like the J.H. Campbell plant in Michigan running to \u201cavoid summer blackouts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa\u2019s Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe<\/a> consistently fights international pressure to quickly abandon coal. \u201cYou don\u2019t destroy what you have on the basis of hope that something better is coming,\u201d he says. Mantashe rightly insists that protecting the ability of the state to supply energy must remain a priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India offers the most powerful example of this energy pragmatism. The country has signaled that coal will remain the backbone of the economy for decades, even as its diplomats make empty promises about reaching net-zero by 2070. Deputy Power Minister Shripad Naik recently revealed that India had added a massive 7.2 gigawatts of new coal capacity<\/a> in the 2025\u201326 fiscal year alone and would add 307 gigawatts of total coal capacity by 2035.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A majority of Western countries, especially in Europe, utterly lack this basic foresight on energy security. Many countries have locked in policies that tear down coal, oil, gas, and nuclear plants before they have built credible alternatives. They chase targets for emissions reductions. They downplay the costs to their citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Energy security has become more prominent in the news because of turmoil in the Middle East. Yet a war may not be needed to launch the next generation of energy crises. When the next prolonged cold spell, drought, or demand surge hits, the weakness of the anti-fossil fuel approach will show up in higher bills, rolling blackouts, and public anger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merz\u2019s nuclear confession suggests that the political class cannot keep dodging reality forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally published on PJ Media<\/em><\/a> on May 11, 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vijay Jayaraj is a Science and Research Associate at the <\/em>CO2 Coalition<\/em><\/a>, Fairfax, Virginia. He holds an M.S. in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia and a postgraduate degree in energy management from Robert Gordon University, both in the U.K., and a bachelor\u2019s in engineering from Anna University, India. He served as a research associate with the Changing Oceans Research Unit at University of British Columbia, Canada.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Germany’s admission highlights a major flaw in rigid Net Zero timelines that prioritize intermittent renewables over reliable, low-carbon baseload power.
\nIn early 2026, Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) described the nuclear phase-out as a “serious strategic mistake.” Germany’s Energy Minister echoed this, calling it a “huge mistake” and noting the loss of ~20 GW of affordable, CO\u2082-free generation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":444242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691843030,691821808,691818583,691840934,691818051,691819026,691820931,691818206,691819094],"class_list":["post-444240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-abandoning-fossil-fuels","tag-energy-security","tag-europe","tag-german-chancellor-friedrich-merz","tag-germany","tag-japan","tag-nuclear-phaseout","tag-nuclear-power","tag-renewable-green-energy","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1Rza","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":444948,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=444948","url_meta":{"origin":444240,"position":0},"title":"Germany\u2019s Nuclear Confession Is a Crack in Net Zero Pretense","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"05\/18\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has called the nuclear phaseout a \u201cserious strategic mistake\u201d that left Germany short of firm power that turned the Energiewende into the most expensive energy transition on the planet. 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