The world must hasten its economic decarbonization via energy transition to prevent the worst of global environmental catastrophes, said Germany’s leading climate experts, adding nuclear energy will be driven out by market forces. With the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report urging the global community to take drastic measures to limit the increase in the Earth’s temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius, moving away from fossil fuels is “inevitable,” stressed scientists Peter Henni

Diplomatic Circuit Oct. 15, 2018

Friends of Germany and Europe around the world have been breathing a sigh of relief at the newfound willingness of Germany’s Christian Democrats and Social Democrats (SPD) to discuss reprising their grand coalition government. The world needs a strong and forward-looking Germany in a dynamic European Union. The SPD’s initial decision to go into opposition after its poor election result in September may have been sincere, and even strategically sound. But it is not timely. Diplomacy almost everyw

Viewpoints Nov. 30, 2017

Europe’s industrial powerhouse Germany is transforming its energy supply by switching to renewable sources.Rather than slowing down the country's economy, which grew by 1.4 percent last year, Germany's green transition decreased energy demand by 5 percent and created additional 300,000 jobs. The German term “Energiewende” -- meaning energy transition -- sums up the Teutonic solutions causing tectonic shifts in the direction of sustainable development: dismantling of nuclear power, switching to r

Foreign Affairs Sept. 13, 2015

NEW YORK ― The surest bet on the future of energy is the need for low-carbon energy supplies. Around 80 percent of the world’s primary energy today is carbon based: coal, oil, and gas. We will need to shift to no- or low-carbon energy by mid-century. The big questions are how and when.Low-carbon primary energy means three options: renewable energy, including wind, solar, geothermal, hydropower, and biomass; nuclear energy; and carbon capture and sequestration, which means using fossil fuels to c

Viewpoints April 1, 2013