The Christmas tree in front of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s office in Berlin will not be lit as long this year, a government spokesman said on Thursday, as Germany wants to save energy over the winter.

The lights on the tree will only be on for four hours every night from four to eight instead of burning continuously like last year, the spokesman told AFP.

The fir tree, which comes from the forests of nearby Brandenburg, is adorned with 4,920 energy-saving LED lights that consume 287 watt hours.

A children’s choir sang the classic “O Tannenbaum” at the foot of the tree on Thursday in the presence of Scholz.

The tree was erected last year when conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel was still in office.

The former top German politician resigned on December 8 to make way for social democrat Scholz and his coalition partners, the Greens and the liberal FDP.

A few hundred meters from the Chancellery, the Christmas tree in front of the Brandenburg Gate is only lit six hours a day instead of 24.

Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine has roiled global energy markets, sending prices higher and threatening Europe with the possibility of winter shortages.

In order to avoid acute problems around the turn of the year, Germany has started to open up new sources of natural gas and to promote energy-saving measures.

Floodlights that illuminate around 200 public monuments and buildings in Berlin – including the red-brick City Hall, the State Opera and Charlottenburg Palace – have been switched off overnight since July.