The beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era
Five years ago, in 2021, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that Germany needed to do more to protect the climate.
In response, the federal government at the time decided that Germany must become climate-neutral not by 2050, but by 2045. Is this goal achievable? To achieve it, a complete phase-out of fossil fuels and a switch to 100 per cent renewable energy is necessary.
30 global climate conferences have so far failed to even formulate the phase-out of fossil fuels in unambiguous terms. The “European Climate Status Report” has just found that Europe is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world: rivers are heating up at an ever-increasing rate, forests are burning more frequently, and surface temperatures are higher than ever before. Europe is the fastest-warming continent on our planet.
- The ray of hope in this gloom: nearly 60 countries have just met at the first conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels in Colombia, including Germany, though represented only by a state secretary. These countries see themselves as pioneers of a global solar energy transition.
These are the issues that took centre stage at TAFF (Transitioning away from Fossil Fuels): a just transition, bringing the Global South on board, and seizing the opportunities offered by renewable energy. And: not debating whether to phase out coal, gas and oil, but when and how.
At the level of UN climate negotiations, this phase-out of fossil fuels has recently failed to materialise. For climate researchers, this is an untenable situation. “It is so frustrating that there have been 30 climate conferences that haven’t even discussed the reasons why we are in the climate crisis,” says Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).
At the conference in Colombia, France presented a concrete phase-out plan: coal is to be phased out by 2030, oil by 2045 and gas by 2050. Spain reported major successes in the construction of wind turbines, and Pakistan even a solar revolution, having increased the share of solar energy thirtyfold over the last two years.
The current energy crisis, caused by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, is driving global climate action just as much as the TAFF conference in Colombia. For it is precisely because of this crisis that many countries are now focusing on the faster expansion of renewable energies. They recognise that renewables will never need the Strait of Hormuz. For international climate policy, this crisis represents a new opportunity. Germany’s Environment Minister Carsten Schneider is also seizing this opportunity amidst the crisis. This is because energy systems reliant on conventional energy resources are extremely vulnerable, dependent and becoming increasingly expensive.
We stand at a crossroads: we can swiftly achieve the rapid transition to renewable energy to become a modern, climate-neutral country, thereby securing prosperity, stability and sustainability, or we can remain stuck in the old fossil fuel structures, stay dependent on the fossil fuel tyrants who control us, and risk not only our democracy but also our economy.
Every moment of further hesitation costs us a piece of our future. The decision still lies with us. What are we waiting for? All the technologies we need for the energy transition are fully developed and are becoming increasingly affordable, whilst the costs of the old fossil-fuel and nuclear technologies are skyrocketing.
- Franz Alt „Die solare Weltrevolution“ – Aufbruch in eine neue Menschheitsepoche | HERDER 2025
- „Kurzschluss: Wie wir unsere Energiezukunft verspielen“ von Prof. Dr. Claudia Kemfert | Campus-Verlag 2026
