Climate change in Germany
Climate change is leading to long-term impacts on agriculture in Germany, more intense heatwaves and coldwaves, flash and coastal flooding, and reduced water availability.
[4] In 2024, Germany's greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 3% compared to the previous year, totaling 656 million metric tons of CO₂ equivalent.
In 2021, the Federal Constitutional Court issued a landmark climate change ruling, which ordered the government to set clearer targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
[15] In 2024, Germany's greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 3% compared to the previous year, totaling 656 million metric tons of CO₂ equivalent.
[8] The court called the current government provisions "incompatible with fundamental rights" since it placed the burden of major emissions reduction onto future generations.
[17] In August 2022, Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz has met Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to sign a deal to establish hydrogen supply chains with Canada.
[19] A report in 2024 by the energy think tank Ember has brought attention to potential underreporting in Germany's coal mine methane (CMM) emissions.
This figure is in stark contrast to independent studies, which imply that the real emissions could be 28 to 220 times the reported amount, adding up to an estimated 300,000 tonnes of methane annually.
Ember's own analysis estimates Germany’s annual CMM emissions to be approximately 256,000 tonnes, a number which is supported by satellite data showing methane concentrations as high as 34 parts per billion (ppb) over certain mining areas.
[20] The south and west of Germany, including the mountainous regions, are expected to experience the most signficiant rises in average temperature, as well as more frequent and intense heat waves.
[26] The North Sea provinces of Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony have a high vulnerability to storm surges and high-impact river flooding.
[28] A key reason why the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is particularly vulnerable to climate change among northern provinces is that it is a relatively poor region of Germany with a large agricultural sector.
[27] A November 2020 simulation published in the KN Journal of Cartography and Geographic Information found that using Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios 4.5 and 8.5, between 5477 and 626,880 people would be affected by flooding due to sea-level rise in Northern Germany.
Federal-level efforts are being carried out by the Umweltbundesamt (UBA), Germany's primary environmental protection agency, serving a similar function to the US' EPA.
Priorities are to collaborate with the Federal States of Germany in assessing the risks of climate change, identifying action areas and defining appropriate goals and measures.
[32] In November 2000, a report was released that indicated multiple sectors of German industry were on track to exceed their targets in half of the originally stipulated time.
[32] A major driver of Germany's GHG emissions reductions was a result of German reunification in 1990, whose economic revitalization and other policies are credited with reducing 112.9 megatons of CO2/year from 1990 to 2010.
[47] The environmental benefits of reunification policies were largely co-benefits from modernization measures such as improving energy efficiency standards and the creation of a private coal mining industry.
[32] In the end of 2008 the parliament of the EU approved the climate and energy plan including:[48] Mitigation efforts are being undertaken at all levels of government.
Federal-level efforts are being carried out by the Umweltbundesamt (UBA), Germany's primary environmental protection agency, serving a similar function to the US' EPA.
[32] The Montreal Protocol in 1987, alongside the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, acted as focusing events for German public and subsequently pushed the environment to the top of the policy agenda.
[53]: Table 1 Yiannis Kountouris conducted a study, using the German Socioeconomic Panel, that centered itself around the question of if a county that's been under authoritarian rule cares less about climate change than a democracy.
