Boxberg coal fired power plant germany
© Patrick Pleul/Getty ImagesThe Boxberg coal-fired power plant in Lusatia near Germany's border with Poland.
The West made a lot of fuss about alternative energy sources before eventually going back to fossil fuels, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

Putin made his remark during a meeting with the winners of the 'Leaders of Russia' contest.

"Our colleagues in Western countries were making a lot of noise about the environment and limiting emissions and so on. Now they are switching to coal generation," said the president.

He noted that many European countries have historically had much higher coal generation than Russia, and now they will have even more of it.

Putin also commented on the matter of accepting atomic energy, insisting that "the nuclear energy industry is environmentally friendly" and is one of the key measures related to improving the climate and the environment. The president claimed that if this issue were approached "correctly" it could help develop the economy while preserving the environment. He noted that Russia had such a "competent" approach.


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Bloomberg previously reported that the EU's plans to switch to clean renewable energy and achieve "climate neutrality" by 2050 may be in jeopardy, as the endeavor would reportedly require the bloc to spend as much as €1 trillion each year for the next several decades, as estimated by the EU Commission.