BERLIN: Germany should reconsider a plan to phase out nuclear energy or it will undermine the security of its power supply and make it harder to tackle global warming, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said yesterday.
If the plan to phase out atomic power by the early 2020s goes ahead, Germany is likely to be increasingly reliant on Russian natural gas, and burn more fossil fuels, the IEA said in its first in-depth review of German energy policy since 2002.
As Chancellor Angela Merkel prepares to host a summit of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised nations where she will press for more concerted action on combating global warming, the IEA said dropping nuclear power would make this much harder.
“While the phase-out threatens to result in higher overall emissions of carbon dioxide than today, it will certainly prevent Germany from reaching its full potential over the long term,” the IEA said.
“We strongly encourage the government to reconsider the decision to phase out nuclear power.”
The nuclear phase-out was agreed under the previous Social Democrat (SPD)-Greens government of Gerhard Schroeder. Despite opposing it, Merkel’s conservatives agreed to honour the plan in a coalition agreement struck with the SPD in 2005.
However, conservative Economy Minister Michael Glos has persistently urged a re-think on the phase-out and said on Monday at a joint news conference with IEA Executive Director Claude Mandil he would work to build a new consensus.
“There are all kinds of alternatives to changing the law (on the phase-out),” Glos told reporters. “That begins with a postponement of the planned decommissioning of existing power stations which are technically in perfect condition.”
Mandil said renewable energies would not be able to meet the shortfall arising from the shutdown of nuclear power, which currently covers around 26% of electricity needs in Europe’s largest economy, according to the government.
As a result, Germany’s energy security would be weakened by this reduction in the diversity of supplies, the IEA said.
“In particular, the higher gas needs that will arise from the phase-out will likely result in greater reliance on gas from (Russian firm) Gazprom, a company that already supplies over a third of Germany’s imported gas,” the agency said.
Looking ahead to the G8 summit Germany hosts in the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm from June 6 to 8, Mandil urged G8 leaders gathering there to do more to implement measures aimed at battling global warming rather than just naming more targets.
However, the IEA chief said he was encouraged by US President George W Bush’s new plan to tackle climate change.
“We have to realise that it is major progress to listen to the president of the US approving the idea of a cooperative approach to global warming,” he said.
Mandil said he supported the US view that setting temperature goals on global warming was not vital, but added he believed any international agreement on climate change should be brokered under the aegis of the UN. - Reuters |
