Not since 2000 under Jacques Chirac had a French president held a state visit in Germany. It was, therefore, with some anticipation that Chancellor Olaf Scholz greeted his counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, from 26 until 28 May in Berlin, Dresden and Münster, days away from the European elections and in a year marked by many Second World World commemorations. Speaking at a press conference at the end of the stay, Macron said both governments had agreed to reinforce their partnership across a number of strategic areas, including decarbonisation and the climate transition.
If these words are to signify anything other than wishful pleasantries, however, both leaders could do worse than thinking of their energy cooperation. But can the renewables enthusiasts of Berlin and atomic supporters of Paris ever see eye to eye? Despite recent quarrels on the use for nuclear power, the role of gas in the energy transition and the future of combustion engines, our French German research at Grenoble Management School and Deutsch-Französisches Institut für Umweltforschung at [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology] show that French and German citizens share surprisingly similar views on energy.
On paper, everything appears to oppose these two countries’ approaches to energy.
France – it’s no secret – relies heavily on nuclear power. In 2023, the sector accounted for 72% of its electricity mix - the highest percentage for a country worldwide. While the Fukushima meltdown in March 2011 prompted neighbouring Germany to phase out nuclear, the French conservative president Nicolas Sarkozy vowed at the time not to reduce its reliance on the atom, a move which he said would have broken “the political consensus of the last 65 years at the risk of destroying jobs in French industry”. The pro-nuclear stance has continued to expand under president Emmanuel Macron. In light of ageing plants, an expected increase in electricity demand and increasingly ambitious climate goals, in February 2022 Macron revealed plans to build six new nuclear EPR power reactors by 2035, with a view to possibly adding a further 8 by 2050.
Germany, in contrast, couldn’t have more different policies. Long home to a strong anti-nuclear movement, the Fukushima disaster led even trained physicists and previous atomic energy advocate, then chancellor Angela Merkel, to question her beliefs in the possibility of safe nuclear power. Three months later, the parliament voted to phase out atomic energy by late 2022. Its climate plans commit it to generate 80% of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030. Critics point out that this has resulted in Germany’s dependence on coal for electricity generation (~25% in 2023), but plans phase out all coal-fired power generation by 2038.
As energy policy watchers, we expected that these two country profiles should have translated in different energy preferences between citizens. And yet, our research tells another story. Our recent survey of over 2,000 people (with 1,006 participants in France and 1,004 in Germany) shows that overall, support for renewables, fossil fuels, and nuclear power aligns with citizens’ political preferences.
Ranking of preferences for energy sources: renewable energies ahead of nuclear – coal lags behind
Figure 1. DFIU/GEM, Fourni par l'auteurWhen asked about their support for different energy sources for electricity generation, respondents in France and Germany indicate strong support for renewable energy sources, in particular for solar and hydropower, but also for onshore and offshore wind energy (see Figure 1).
At the same time, the share of onshore and offshore wind energy opponents (i.e., those responding ‘totally disagree’ or ‘disagree’) is 6 percentage points higher in France than in Germany. Respondents in France tend to back geothermal energy (such as water from hot springs, for example) more often, while Germans favour biogas.
Support for nuclear power is admittedly stronger in France than in Germany, but that’s by a small margin considering that Berlin has already phased it out. Yet, results also show more opposition to nuclear power in Germany than in France (33% opposed in Germany, compared to 21% in France). Surprisingly, a larger share of respondents in Germany than in France considers nuclear power to be climate friendly (see Figure 3) and cheap (see Figure 4). Coal has more supporters in Germany than in France, but finds itself at the bottom of the popularity ladder in both countries by a significant margin.
Additional analyses reveal that in Germany, people who support nuclear energy also tend to support coal and natural gas, indicating a preference among some of the population for ‘traditional’ technologies. On the contrary, in France, there is no relationship between public support for nuclear and coal power, possibly because coal power in particular has played a minor role in the French electricity mix for the past decades.
Support for different energy sources appears remarkably similar in France and Germany. Within each country, however, preferences are strongly related to political identity. In both countries, individuals identifying with environmentally-oriented policies tend to show stronger support for renewables while opposing coal and nuclear energy. In Germany (but not in France), this group also displays a greater opposition to natural gas.
In France, the absence of a correlation between identifying with environmentally-oriented policies and opposition to natural gas is surprising, as natural gas is considered the second least climate-friendly technology by respondents (see Figure 3). One explanation may be that, in comparison to Germany, natural gas plays a significantly smaller role in the already decarbonized electricity mix in France.
In contrast, participants identifying as conservatives show less support for renewables and are not as strongly opposed to coal, natural gas, and nuclear power. Moreover, individuals identifying with nationally-oriented policies demonstrate a stronger support for nuclear energy in both countries, possibly because they perceive nuclear power as an effective means of reducing energy import dependency (Figure 5). In Germany (but not in France), this group also displays a greater backing for natural gas, biogas, and coal.
Mr.BadGuy
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Mr.BadGuy
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These soldiers are from a country whose president is a Jew Zelensky. Orthodox churches are also being destroyed in this country. Synagogues are not touched. Surprisingly, it turns out that Jews get along well with the Bandera Nazis.