German Energy Transition

Nowadays, king coal has more or less ceded his throne. The era of cheap, accessible coal has ended, and all three regions are faced with the same dilemma: what next? How can policymakers, civil society and the private sector replace the dying incumbent industries with green alternatives and create jobs at the same time? This dilemma, or rather opportunity, was the overarching theme of the Green Jobs Tour site visits, meetings, and roundtables.

Germany has drawn a lot of attention for the Energiewende - the aim to switch to a renewable energy economy, phase out nuclear power and leave fossil fuels behind. But what exactly is the German energy transition: How does it works and what challenges lay ahead?

Is our civilization able to renounce fossil fuels? Is achieving complete energetic independence, understood as using energy solely from renewable, widely accessible, “clean” and economically feasible sources a utopia? What kind of conditions have to be met for this revolution to take place and how long is the road that will lead us there? What opportunities are connected with such a process and how do they relate to sustainable development and socio-economic justice?