Germany and Climate Protection: From Model Pupil to Laggard—Why Coal Phasing Out Makes Economic and Ecological Sense

Abstract Germany has gone from being a pioneer to a laggard when it comes to climate protection. The proportion of Germany's most polluting energy source, lignite, is higher than ever before. Renewable energies are being thwarted. There is no sustainable transport policy that focuses on traffic avoidance, relocation, and electrification as well as environmental, climate, and health protection—not even after the diesel scandal. The climate protection targets that are set are missed. A clever energy transition is different. Germany will only be able to regain its credibility as a climate protection world champion if the phase‐out of coal is initiated today and completed in a decade, a sustainable transition in transport is initiated and the entire energy system is converted to renewable energies. This creates enormous economic opportunities for a long overdue modernization of the German economy.