Germany Bets Billions on Nuclear Fusion for Energy Future

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Germany bets billions on nuclear fusion for energy future - DW - 10/29/2025:

Germany consumes vast amounts of energy to sustain its manufacturing might and energy-intensive sectors like the automotive and chemical industry.

The country, Europe's largest economy, still relies heavily on fossil fuels for its energy needs, even though the share of renewable sources like wind and solar has risen steadily over the past two decades.

The German government has been implementing an ambitious energy transition plan to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. It completely phased out nuclear power in 2023, and plans to wean itself off coal by 2038.

To balance the energy and environmental commitments, Berlin is also betting on new technologies such as green hydrogen and nuclear fusion.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Cabinet this month unveiled an action plan [PDF in German] to accelerate the development of nuclear fusion technology. It wants Germany to build the world's first fusion reactor, allocating 1.7 billion ($1.98 billion) in funding for the project.

Berlin hopes the technology will provide abundant clean, safe and reliable energy in the future.

Sarah Klein, commissioner for fusion research at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology in Aachen, Germany, says investing in fusion technology is a "smart longterm strategic bet."

"[It] keeps Germany at the forefront of a global technology race and - alongside renewables - is crucial for ensuring energy sovereignty after the phaseout of fossil fuels," she told DW.

Sibylle Gunter, scientific director of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, agreed, noting that German energy demand is "rising steadily."

"Nuclear fusion is a technology that can help us secure our energy supply without CO2 emissions in the long term and remain competitive as an industrial nation," Gunter told DW.

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