A Lesson Learned for Europe’s Energy Transition: Germany’s Energiewende
Full report here by Prof Mario Giaccio[1] / Dr Gustavo Scotti di Uccio[2] –
Germany’s Energiewende, a multi-decade initiative to decarbonize its energy sector, offers valuable lessons for Europe’s broader energy transition.
This article critically examines the Energiewende’s goals, implementation, and outcomes, focusing on the interplay between renewable energy deployment, nuclear phase-out, economic costs, and actual emissions reductions.
While acknowledging Germany’s commitment to sustainability, this review highlights the challenges of relying heavily on intermittent renewables without sufficient baseload alternatives and the resulting implications for energy security, affordability, and climate impact.
The analysis underscores the need for a pragmatic and technology-inclusive approach to achieve Europe’s ambitious decarbonization goals.
[1] Mario Giaccio was Full Professor of “Technology and Economics of Energy Sources” at the Department of Sciences of the “G. D’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara. He has taught at the Universities of Bari, Modena, Bologna, Ancona, and Milan-Bicocca. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Economics in Pescara for nine years and as Dean of the Faculty of Managerial Sciences for five years. He was the editor-in-chief of the scientific publication Journal of Commodity Science, Technology and Quality. He is the scientific director of the Research Centre for Evaluation and Socio-Economic Development, a member of the United Nations Academic Impact.
[2] Gustavo Scotti di Uccio, Ph.D., was an executive in the Finmeccanica/Leonardo group for over 30 years, working in the fields of defence, security, and critical infrastructures. For the past 15 years, he has been the President and General Manager of AOS (Atlantic Organization for Security), a security and defence engineering & program management firm based in Belgium.
