Germany's recently elected coalition government announced (in November 2021) more aggressive pledges to add renewable energy to their electricity grid, pledging to power 80% of their electricity demand with renewables, and pledging to phase out coal power in 2030, earlier than their previous 2038 goal. However, Germany is also moving away from nuclear energy, planning to phase it out entirely by the end of 2022. The German coalition government is the first to include Die Grünen (The Greens) since 2005, and a Green Party member of the Bundestag, Steffi Lemke, now serves as the Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear safety, and Consumer protection.

There is debate among climate activists about whether nuclear power can be phased out in a way that allows for CO2 emissions to be reduced through the use of renewable energy. Like many Green Parties, the German Green Party takes the view that it is possible to significantly reduce CO2 emissions without relying on nuclear power. Germany currently has higher levels of per-capita CO2 emissions than many of its neighbors - for example, in 2019, France had yearly per-capita emissions of 6.48 tonnes of CO2, whereas the equivalent figure for Germany was 9.88 tonnes. France relies heavily on nuclear power - accounting for approximately 70.6% of France’s total electricity production.