Why Germany isn't as green as you think

Germany is super green and amazing at fighting climate change – at least that's how the stereotype goes. But if you look deeper into it, you soon discover some pretty dirty secrets. We tell you what they are.

Author: Malte Rohwer-Kahlmann
Camera: Kiyo Dörrer
Video editor: David Jacobi
Supervising editor: Kiyo Dörrer

READ MORE:
German climate policy:

Coal power in Europe:

Phase-out of internal combustion engines in Europe:

Coal phase-out and the Paris Agreement:

#PlanetA #Germany #RenewableEnergy

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[ForbiddTV]

Germany is the perfect example for other nations to not go down the path of the same bad energy policy decisions.

[sohamkumar]

THESE ARE THE CHANNELS THAT REQUIRE BILLIONS AND BILLIONS OF VIEWS SO THAT PEOPLE GET AWARE NOT THOSE SONGS BY T-SERIES THAT GET ON TRENDING

[alessandroruozzi]

@DW Planet A

At 6:06 the lady says: "Germany is not that climate friendly as the whole world might think". Don't worry: no one believes that Germany is green.
At 5:17 the reporter says that Italy and France rely on nuclear energy: this is false because Italy doesn't have nuclear reactors however Italy buys a lot of electricity from neighboring countries (sometime nuclear energy).
Yes Italy will phase out coal but it will not be replaced with renewables but with gas. Yes Germany will phase out coal in 2038 but it will be replaced with gas that is why Germany is doubling the North Stream. Same for Belgium: they will replace the nuclear fleet with methane!

However you don't mention the titanic failure called Energiewende. In 2011 nuclear provided 25% of Germany's electricity, it was the largest carbon free technology. The reactor in Grohnde has produced 400 TWh in 37 years of operation, no other reactor ON EARTH has produced more. If Germany had build more of these reactors they would be carbon free (as France, Switzerland and Sweden for example). Reactors could also be used for district heating...In 2011 the german federal government decided to destroy all the 17 perfectly working reactors before 2023, this is the only real accomplishment of Energiewende: CONGRATULATIONS. Now you realize that you will need coal for other two decades, who could have guessed? And what about gas? How long will you need gas?


You want electric cars? Great! How are you gonna charge them in winter months when solar, despite billions and billions wasted, produces just 1-2% of the electricity demand? How are you going to heat a city like Berlin during winter? (You can do that with nuclear-district heating). How are you going to refine aluminium? And steel? How are you going to power a 200 thousand tons cargo ship with solar panel?

The irrationality of Germany's energy policies is so big that only history will be able to judge.
Dear germans, don't worry. No one believes you are "green"

[dromeozaur]

Thank you for pointing that out. I think shutting down nuclear plants and excessive consumption (also when it comes to new cars which often causes emissions in other countries) is much more significant factor than late switching to electric mobility.

[enemyofthestatewearein]

What's really sad is that Germany has so many strengths - it's very wealthy, and it's absolutely world class at making stuff and getting things done efficiently. If only the right decisions could be made the country surely has the ability to ace the transition to net zero.

[olivegrove]

I've never seen Germany as a leader of anything green.

[szaszm_]

Coal was my first guess, not cars. Shutting down nuclear power plants was an incredibly bad decision.

[Feldspar__]

It hasn't changed my view of Germany. Renewables are too sparse to quickly replace dense sources of energy like coal. Shutting down nuclear power was the mistake that makes coal power a necessity.

[artaddictd]

Pretty good video on an important topic. Thank you so much for your work! There's only a minor issue: starting from 5:22 in the Video - that's not Sweden. It's actually the "Astrup Fearnley Museum" on "Tjuvholmen" in Oslo, Norway...

[ForbiddTV]

More and more of the German people have had enough of Energiewende and the Merkel anti-nuke stance. In just one year there has been a dramatic shift of public opinion on the question,
"Should nuclear power continue to be used to generate electricity to meet the EU's climate goals?"
Spring 2021: 49% yes, 42% no, 9% undecided,
Spring 2022: 65% yes, 28% no, 7% undecided.
And I'm sure come winter the opinion will quickly shift to close to 100% yes.

[confuciuslola]

If Germany would invest in rail suddenly all of the EU is a bit closer because you travel by rail more easily.
And isn't Germany also closing all nuclear power plants, resulting in more burning of coal?

[cupcakkefreak]

Also shutting down nuclear power plants was a stupid decision.

[XSegaSoccerX]

Congrats on the content you make. Just a small correction. There are no nuclear power plants in Italy, in 1987a referendum passed a law to phase them out. Then in the 90’s all of them were shut down

[MeGawOOt]

The main issue with these solar and wind power is one thing, batteries. If you don't use batteries you get energy when its sunny and no energy when its night time. Which defeats the purpose of have electricity for things like lights. If you do put batteries in you basically intend to output more carbon dioxide then a nuclear plant because of how many lithium ion batteries it takes to capture and hold energy when you need it. In 2017 the Swedish Environmental Research Institute said 200 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions is produced per every kilowatt-hour. Granted manufacturing techniques gotten better but the type of batteries produced also affects how much carbon is released and the ones used are going to be very large industrial size batteries, not the size of car batteries.

[aakarande]

Does this change my views of Germany: Yes, massively
Is my country doing enough to mitigate climate change: No. Not at least for the foreseeable future

[PenkoAngelov]

No, the image stays the same. It's well know that lobbyist groups are deeply integrated in Germany's political system and manufacturing. There are even coal lobbyists that lable themselves as "environmentalists".
But as someone from a corrupt country as Bulgaria where nearly half of the electricity comes from coal... I look forward to my country becoming even a little bit cleaner. The first step is to demolish the coal lobbies and corruption!

[Salty]

The fun thing is me being in love with Germany established upon the fact that it is one of the finest automakers in the whole world. I'd be much happier if they keep producing these pieces of art in an environmentally sound way.

[JizzMasterTheZeroth]

As a Dane, I see your German-owned windmills standing still every third day or so.. even on windy days. Maybe sort that shit out, because we're getting quite tired of looking at them.

[incvnsit]

No
I am from India and it is not doing much it can be defended by saying the country is kinda poor but I think more can be done. Nonetheless, I will try my best.

[lachlanperry]

It has changed my view of Germany. They seem quite keen to tell us how they are very environmentally friendly. My country (Australia) drags the chain on climate change, because coal made us rich, and I believe that we should be leading the renewable transition, yet we are not.