For decades, Germany has had some of the most enlightened energy policies in Europe. It has long been admired for setting world-leading growth in wind and solar. But, its decision to end nuclear power by 2022 will set back efforts to decarbonize the electricity supply by 10 crucial years, and could prove expensive for every household in Europe. Germany’s sudden about-turn, like all decisions on nuclear energy, was highly political. Last year, the government, headed by Angela Merkel, made the sensible but unpopular decision to extend the life of Germany’s nuclear plants to 2036 as a “bridge technology” towards “the age of renewable energy”. But, after the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan, public hostility intensified and Merkel retreated. The U-turn may help her in the 2013 federal elections, but it is a major step back for the climate. About 23% of Germany’s electricity comes from nuclear and 17% from renewable energy sources. That’s a 40% share for zero-carbon in total. The government has admirable plans to raise renewable electricity to 35% of consumption by 2020. However, even this planned increase falls 5% short of filling the hole in zero-carbon electricity left by abandoning nuclear power.