Climate change in Germany
overview of the impacts of the climate change in Germany
Climate change is leading to long-term effects on agriculture in Germany, more intense heatwaves and Cold waves, 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 usage. The country remains Europe's largest importer of coal and produces the second most coal in the European Union behind Poland, about 1% of the global total. Germany phased out nuclear power in 2023, and plans to retire existing coal power plants by 2030. In 2024, Germany's greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 3% compared to the previous year, totaling 656 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent.
Climate change could cost Germany up to €900 billion by 2050 due to issues like extreme heat, drought, and floods. These events have already caused significant economic losses, with at least €145 billion in damages between 2000 and 2021.
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. 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.
“Climate change in Germany” enters the record as overview of the impacts of the climate change in Germany. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Climate, change and Germany can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Climate change in Germany” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.