Which country is doing the best moving away from nuclear power?

After Fukushima’s nuclear meltdown in 2011, Germany made the decision to shut down all 17 of its reactors by 2022. The country aims to free itself from the risks of nuclear accidents that could linger for an indeterminate period of time. Although this shift meant a temporary increase in fossil fuel use in the country initially, Germany has been positively transitioning towards renewables in recent years.

According to the German Environmental Agency (Umweltbundesamt – UBA), 2019 marked the first year that electricity production from renewables was greater than that of coal, covering 42% of power consumption with 243 billion kWh of electricity.

In 2020, partially due to the coronavirus pandemic that slowed the economy, Germany’s renewable energy generation surpassed the energy generated from oil, natural gas and coal combined for the first time. Furthermore, solar panel installations saw a 25% increase compared to 2019. Thanks to this, 49.3% of Germany’s electricity came from renewables, mainly from wind and solar.