Germany: no, phasing out nuclear does not encourage the use of coal

In this article, the authors show that many critics which stated that the German energy transition policy resulted in an increase of coal consumption in power plants were wrong. They first comment the evolution of greenhouse gas emissions in Germany since 1990, the evolution of electric power production by the different power plants (coal, nuclear), and by renewable energies since 2000. Thus, they outline that renewable energies compensate the loss of nuclear-based electricity production. The coal-based electricity production is also analysed and the authors notice that this production has been mainly used for power exports. They also outline that the current boom on coal in the World cannot be noticed in Germany. Thus, a progressive phasing out of coal could promote energy transition. The authors state that the momentary boom of coal is due to a relatively low rate of development and implementation of energy transition