Germany's Energy Transition
A Comparative Perspective

Editors: Carol Hager, Christoph H. Stefes



Offers the first comprehensive analysis of Germany's path-breaking transition from nuclear to renewable energy

Elaborates on the international comparison of energy transitions

Provides readers with an up-to-date and comprehensive review of the challenges and the potential of a sustainable energy future

This book analyzes Germany's path-breaking Energiewende, the country's transition from an energy system based on fossil and nuclear fuels to a sustainable energy system based on renewables. The authors explain Germany's commitment to a renewable energy transition on multiple levels of governance, from the local to the European, focusing on the sources of institutional change that made the transition possible. They then place the German case in international context through comparative case studies of energy transitions in the USA, China, and Japan. These chapters highlight the multifaceted challenges, and the enormous potential, in different paths to a sustainable energy future. Taken together, they tell the story of one of the most important political, economic, and social undertakings of our time.

Table of contents

Front Matter

The Grassroots Origins of the German Energy Transition

Why Subnational Actors Matter: The Role of Länder and Municipalities in the German Energy Transition

Critical Junctures and the German Energiewende

The German Energiewende in a European Context

Avoiding Transitions, Layering Change: The Evolution of American Energy Policy

Exercising Power: China’s Transition to Efficient, Renewable Energy

Renegotiating Japan’s Energy Compact

Conclusion: Lessons from the German Energiewende

Back Matter