Climate change in Germany

See also: Climate change in the European Union

Germany Köppen climate classification map for 2071 to 2100

Climate change in Germany is leading to long-term impacts on agriculture in Germany, more intense heatwaves and coldwaves, flash and coastal flooding, and reduced water availability. Debates over how to address these long-term challenges caused by climate change have also sparked changes in the energy sector and in mitigation strategies. Germany's energiewende ("energy transition") has been a significant political issue in German politics that has made coalition talks difficult for Angela Merkel's CDU.

Despite massive investments in renewable energy, Germany has struggled to reduce coal production and usage. The country remains Europe's largest importer of coal and produces the 2nd most amount of coal in the European Union behind Poland, about 1% of the global total.

German climate change policies started to be developed in around 1987 and have historically included consistent goal setting for emissions reductions (mitigation), promotion of renewable energy, energy efficiency standards, market based approaches to climate change, and voluntary agreements with industry.

Greenhouse gas emissions

In 2016 Germany government has an agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 to 95% by 2050.

Impacts on the natural environment

As a highly industrial, urbanized economy with a relatively short coastline compared to other major economies, the impacts of climate change on Germany are more narrowly focused than other major economies. Germany's traditional industrial regions are typically the most vulnerable to climate change. These are mostly located in the provinces of North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, Thuringia, Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and the free cities of Bremen and Hamburg.

North Sea

Hamburg Population Density and Low Elevation Coastal Zones

The North Sea provinces of Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony have a high vulnerability to storm surges and high-impact river flooding. The Baltic province of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is less vulnerable to storm surges, but at higher risk to loss of biodiversity and loss of topsoil and erosion.

Rhineland

The Rhineland is historically a heavily industrial and population-dense area which includes the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland Palatinate, and Saarland. This region is rich in iron and coal deposits and supports one of Europe's largest coal industries. In the past, sulfuric acid emissions from Rhineland coal plants contributed to acid rain, damaging forests in other regions like Hesse, Thuringia, and Saxony.

Many Rhineland provinces and regions are heavily built-up, creating a heat island effect. In addition, urban areas are rapidly aging along with the rest of Germany. This increases the severity and frequency of heatwaves which can be dangerous for vulnerable populations such as the elderly. Other significant problems for the Rhineland related to its high level of industrialization include the destruction of infrastructure from extreme weather events, loss of water for industrial purposes, and fluctuation of the ground water level. Since these problems are related to its level of industrialization, cities within other regions are also sensitive to these challenges including Munich and Bremen.

Impacts on people

Economic impacts

Agriculture

Warming in Germany has affected some parts of the German agricultural industry. In particular, warming since at least 1988 in the Southwest wine-growing regions has caused a decline in the output of ice wine, a product particularly vulnerable to warming. In 2019, almost no ice wine was produced due to lack of sufficiently cold days.

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.

Mitigation and adaptation

Mitigation approaches

Renewable energy

Germany has created multiple policies meant to encourage the use of renewable energy sources, such as the Electricity Feed-In Act and Renewable Energy Sources Act. The 1991 Electricity Feed-In Act stipulated that utilities purchase subsidized renewable electricity, which effectively cost 90% of the retail price which henceforth made the development of wind, biomass, and hydroelectric power economically viable. It is estimated that the Electricity Feed-In Act is responsible for a 42x increase in wind power from 1990 to 1998.

Despite initial success, due to shifts in the electricity market, the Electricity Feed-In Act was no longer as effective by the end of the decade, and was later strengthened by the 2000 Renewable Energy Sources Act. This act guaranteed the price of renewable energy for twenty years by setting feed-in prices, and spread the costs of wind power subsidies across consumers of all energy sources.

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. The UBA's primary role is to make environmental risk assessments and deliver policy recommendations to the Ministry of the Environment. The agency is also in charge of enforcing environmental protection laws including in the approval process for new pharmaceuticals and pesticides and CO₂ trading.

In some parts of Germany a phase-out of petrol and diesel vehicles is planned by 2030.

Reducing coal production

On 25 Feb 2020 activists demonstrated against the new coal power of Datteln 4 Uniper Germany. In the fight against the climate crisis, German coal power operators will be compensated for early switch-offs. However, in the new coal-fired plant Datteln 4 commenced operation on 30 May 2020 and also allowed for the expansion of the Garzweiler surface mine in western Germany.

Policies and legislation to achieve mitigation

Goal setting

The third report as produced by the Climate Enquête Commission, released in 1990 titled "Protecting the Earth," called for Germany to make a 30% reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from 1987 levels by 2005 and an 80% decrease in emissions by 2050. After the report was released, the German federal government adopted the recommended 25-30% emissions reduction goal by 2005. Later reduction goals include Germany's pledge to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 21% from 1990-2012 as part of the EU's collective 8% reduction from the Kyoto Protocol, and the 2005 target of reducing GHG emissions by 40% from 1990 to 2020. The adoption of these national targets have motivated the German government to adopt different policies to meet these goals.

Voluntary agreements with industry

In addition to nationally adopted emission reduction goals, private industry has also made agreements with the government to reduce their emissions. In 1995, German industry published a voluntary declaration of their reduction goals, which was later revised in 1996. 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. Encouraged by this success, industry published another revised declaration which aimed to reduce their total GHG emissions 35% by 2005.

"Wall Fall" effect

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. The environmental benefits of reunification policies were largely co-benefits from modernization measures such as improving energy efficiency standards, the closure of nuclear power plants, and the creation of a private coal mining industry.

EU energy plan 2008

In the end of 2008 the parliament of the EU approved the climate and energy plan including:

- 20% emission cut of climate gases from 1990 to 2020

- 20% increase in the share of renewable energy from 1990 to 2020

- 20% increase of the energy efficiency from 1990 to 2020.

Dedicated Federal Ministries

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. The UBA's primary role is to make environmental risk assessments and deliver policy recommendations to the Ministry of the Environment. The agency is also in charge of enforcing environmental protection laws including in the approval process for new pharmaceuticals and pesticides and CO₂ trading.

2019 climate change act

The Federal Cabinet initiated the climate change act in October 2019 to make climate targets legally binding. It will include how much CO2 each sector is allowed to emit per year. It is quantified and verifiable sectoral targets for every year from 2020 to 2030. The Federal Environment Agency and an independent council of experts will be responsible for monitoring. In

International cooperation

Germany has taken steps to address anthropogenic climate change since the mid 1980s, starting with their participation in the international negotiations of the Montreal Protocol which was signed in 1987.

Society and culture

Public awareness

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. As a result, the German government under Chancellor Helmut Kohl established the Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (Bundesministrium fuer Umwelt, Natureschutz, und Reaktorsicherheit, BMU) in 1986 and the subcommittee the Enquête Commission on Preventive Measures to Protect the Earth’s Atmosphere (Climate Enquête Commission) in 1987. The role of these committees was to research issues relating to the ozone depletion problem as well as the climate change problem, facilitate parliamentary debate, and produce reports for policymakers to create well informed programs.

The reports produced by the Climate Enquête Commission created the beginning framework of German climate change policies, which have historically included consistent goal setting for emissions reductions, promotion of renewable energy, energy efficiency standards, market based approaches to climate change, and voluntary agreements with industry

Activism

Germany hosted the COP23 meeting in Bonn in 2017 to which the German delegation traveled in a carbon-neutral train to demonstrate commitment to carbon neutrality.

See also

• German Climate Action Plan 2050