Germany Pledges To Phase Out Fossil Fuels By 2045

Germany has laid out a plan to phase out fossil fuels by 2045, published September 23, 2026. The country wants renewables to supply 80 percent of its electricity, backed by 215 GW of new solar and 12 GW of onshore wind by 2030. It also moved up its coal phase-out date from 2038 to 2035 and plans to cut methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030. Germany joins France, the Netherlands, and Kenya in publishing this kind of roadmap. A former German climate envoy said the plan needs to be paired with faster electrification of heating and transport to really pay off.

Heat pumps, which move heat instead of burning fuel to warm a home, are already catching on across Europe. They now make up about half of new heating systems installed in Germany, and Europe-wide sales hit 1.16 million in the first half of this year, up from 1.05 million the year before. Much of that shift is about cost: gas and oil prices have climbed sharply this year, while several countries have worked to lower electricity prices for homeowners, making a gas boiler or oil furnace a harder sell financially.

There's a wider cost lesson here too. The war affecting Iran has added an estimated €100 billion to Europe's energy costs this year alone, with no extra gas or oil to show for it. Meanwhile, solar power saved the EU more than €30 billion in avoided gas imports over the same six months, a reminder of how exposed homes and businesses are to fuel-price swings, and how renewables and electrified heating can soften that blow.