Friedrich Merz was elected Germany’s chancellor on May 6 after an unprecedented first-round defeat in parliament. Despite a coalition between his centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SDP), 18 members withheld support, forcing a second vote. Merz secured 325 votes in the second round, taking office amid internal dissent and rising far-right momentum.
With Merz leading a deeply divided coalition government, Clean Energy Wire and Grist share their take on what’s next for renewables, climate, and energy in Germany—where inflation and energy costs remain top concerns, as in many other countries.
A ‘Green Backlash’ Helped Conservatives Win in Germany. What Happens Now?
In February, Germany held an election that had many echoes of the one the United States held in November. Voters were incensed with inflation—especially electricity prices, which surged 80% after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and never returned to normal. Right-wing parties channeled that fury toward the incumbent government’s green policies, including the pioneering Energiewende decarbonization plan that has made renewable energy more than half of the electricity Germans use today.
While U.S. president Donald Trump has promised to stifle clean energy and bring a fossil fuel renaissance to the country, Germany isn’t going that route. On Tuesday, Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democratic Union was sworn in as chancellor, leading a new conservative government in Berlin. The party has laid out policies that decelerate, but don’t reverse, the country’s blistering renewables build-out while easing up on the decarbonization push in buildings and industry.
The goal: quickly reduce bills for households and businesses and reinvigorate the economy. Merz says German economic policy has been “almost exclusively geared toward climate protection,” according to Politico. “I want to say it as clearly as I mean it: We will and we must change that.”
Historically, Europeans have been willing to shoulder the higher costs of aggressive climate and energy policies. But after three years of war in Ukraine, energy prices remain elevated—with household electricity rates still one-third above their prewar levels—frustrating consumers and raising fears of industrial collapse. European companies face electricity costs two to three times that of the U.S. and natural gas prices four to five times higher.
Elections across the continent last year featured a “green backlash.” Politicians focused on voters’ biggest complaints—migration, the cost of living, a stagnant economy—and ignored climate. Dutch farmers revolted against a law to reduce air pollution; the Italian far right railed against a coming ban on conventional cars.
However, few interpret these developments as Europeans wanting to ditch the energy transition. In Germany, businesses say the Energiewende needs permitting and regulatory reforms and a greater focus on cost efficiency, not “a chainsaw.”
Michael Stiefel, a policy officer on people experiencing poverty with Diakonie Deutschland who advocates on behalf of low-income households, including those burdened by energy costs, said he never hears anyone express climate skepticism or opposition to clean energy. “Their main aim is to get to a minimum standard for their own lives,” he said, “a higher living style which would be stable and sufficient.”
Editor’s Note: This post has been condensed. Grist’s full article explores Germany’s shift from coal and nuclear to renewables and gas—challenged by dwindling gas supplies from Russia and a grid hampered by geographic mismatches that leave some regions short on clean energy. Merz, a wind critic, isn’t scrapping climate policy but is prioritizing competitiveness. Read the full story here.
