Manfred Fischedick, a climate and energy researcher, has sharply criticized the planned abolition of the Building Energy Act and the possibility of a return to nuclear power after the Bundestag election. “Abolishing the heating law is not a meaningful step in terms of closing the climate protection gap in the building sector” he said to the Rheinische Post (Friday edition). “Only adjustments to the complex and bureaucratic funding structure might be sensible.”
The plans of the Union from their election program, to hold on to the “option of nuclear power” and to examine the resumption of operation of the last nuclear power plants shut down, are considered by the climate researcher to be relatively insignificant for achieving climate neutrality. “For climate protection, the expansion of renewable energies is the key strategy. It is crucial to maintain the dynamic of the last two years through a consistent policy” he said. “Nuclear power cannot make a substantial contribution to climate protection.”
The theoretically possible reactivation of the last shut-down reactors would fail “on the one hand due to the lack of willingness of the power plant operators to take this risk – on the other hand, they have long since adapted their strategies and are focusing on renewable energies” explained Fischedick. “On the other hand, it would fail due to the high investments needed to bring the outdated plants up to a sufficient safety level. The construction of new nuclear power plants is economically senseless, as the high costs and extremely long construction times of the recently commissioned plants in Finland and France have shown” the climate researcher added.
The themes of climate protection and adaptation were underrepresented in the Bundestag election campaign, according to Fischedick. “Considering the numerous extreme weather events worldwide, including in Germany, and the fact that the global average temperature in 2024 exceeded the pre-industrial level by more than 1.5 degrees for the first time, this is neither understandable nor justifiable.