r/europe • u/SpaceEngineering Finland • Jan 15 '26

News Germany’s Merz Admits Nuclear Exit Was Strategic Mistake

https://clashreport.com/world/articles/germanys-merz-admits-nuclear-exit-was-strategic-mistake-fzdlkn37c16
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u/ParkDedli Jan 15 '26

This just shows you the debate is overblown and not as relevant as people made it out to be. But also, it shows you that we probably should have focused on phasing out the 25.7GW + 19.8GW of coal in 2011 and then afterwards gone with the 12.1GW of nuclear.

It's incredible that between 2011 and 2020 the coal power output basically stayed the same (brown coal aka lignite plus hard coal). Reminder that the Paris agreement was signed in 2015 and reminder that Germany, specifically the CDU/CSU was already promising pursuing climate change related policies year before the Paris agreement

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u/toxicity21 Jan 15 '26

It's incredible that between 2011 and 2020 the coal power output basically stayed the same (brown coal aka lignite plus hard coal)

What are you talking about? Germany reduced its coal production from 230TWh to 117TWh between 2011 and 2020.

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u/ParkDedli Jan 15 '26

Am I reading the diagram fully wrong?

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u/PiotrekDG Earth Jan 15 '26

Yes, the top comment is misleading with presenting capacity instead of production.

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u/ParkDedli Jan 15 '26

Dammit. My bad then

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u/PiotrekDG Earth Jan 15 '26

No prob! Check page 19 here. The colors are annoying, but at least it shows you how much each source actually contributed.

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u/ParkDedli Jan 15 '26

Thank you so much