Germany should favor nuclear over coal, says Greta Thunberg

It’s a “bad idea” to bet on coal, judge Greta Thunberg. “Whether [les centrales nucléaires] are in operation, I think it would be a mistake to stop them and turn to coal”said the Swedish activist in an interview with the ARD television channel (in German). These statements by Greta Thunberg come in a tense context where the ruling coalition of social democrats, environmentalists and liberals is torn over the solutions to be found to face an unprecedented energy crisis.

Initially, Germany, where a large part of the population is hostile to nuclear power, intended to close its last three reactors in operation at the end of 2022. But the government of Olaf Scholz recently reneged on this promise and decided to extend two of its three power plants until spring 2023. The country, very dependent on Russian gas, has also decided to extend the activity of several coal-fired power plants until spring 2024, even if it has set itself the objective of abandoning this energy in 2030.