A question for Carolin, perhaps: Why has Germany invested so heavily in renewables? Was there a particular quality of leadership that made that possible there?

Even though I have not voted for her party in the past election, I think Angela Merkel is doing a great job and she is one of the best leaders we have had. She has been in office since 2005 and was elected at the age of fifty-one. Obviously I am bias when it comes to Germany, but this is one of the reasons why I think Donald Trump and also Joe Biden are not good fits for the White House, because they are just very old. Granted, Angela Merkel is now sixty-six, but she is also in the process of giving up her offices after she has been leading a country for 15 years. I think our future will be and has to be green and I do believe Merkels age and her extraordinary leadership skills have been a great help in making Germany one of the top leaders in efforts to become environmentally more sustainable. 

I think the reason we also invested more heavily in renewables is because we saw that it was way more future-oriented and it does not only help our environment but also our economy. This field is giving job opportunities, universities and research centres are involved in making progress as well. Another thing is the public funding, because we do pay a lot of taxes and mostly I have the feeling that they are being used for good things such as this. I also think that there is less of bad blood between parties, which is why there is more support of the government. I can vote for one party to give them more seats, while still supporting and liking the party and the leader that is actually in charge. Another perk of having a multi-party system. 

Of course, not everything is great and we still have a lot to do, to really make a positive long-lasting impact on our environment but I think we are on a good path and leadership skills are definitely very important in this.

Points are in the comments.