COP23: German coal use under scrutiny at climate talks

2017 is set to be one of the three hottest years on record, the UN’s weather agency said in a statement at the COP23 climate change conference, which has opened in Germany.

The host country is often seen as a pioneer in the fight against global warming. However, Germany is failing to live up to its own promises.

In recent years, there has been a huge surge in renewable energy in Germany, but coal, a harmful fossil fuel, still supplies about 40 percent of the country’s total energy.

Meanwhile, the threat of thousands of job losses has not encouraged Germany’s politicians to commit to ditching coal.

Al Jazeera’s Nick Clark reports.