Climate protection is not a priority in the coalition

Climate protection in Germany is only mediocre As of: November 14th, 2026 • 5:40 a.m

Germany will miss its self-imposed climate targets for 2030 and 2040. Environmental and nature conservation associations are accusing Chancellor Merz and Economics Minister Reiche of a rollback in climate protection.

It wasn't even three months ago that Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) said in response to the devastating fire in Hürtgenwald in the Eifel: "I want to say to all climate change deniers: Take a close look at what happened here, that's climate change."

Merz promised at the time that he and his government would do everything they could to push back climate change. But his policy does not follow this promise. For most of the summer he had remained silent about the constant heat, calling it "weather."

The fact that climate protection is not at the top of Merz's list of priorities is also evident from his absence from the climate summit. He justified the cancellation, among other things, with an important cabinet meeting. Climate activists were particularly outraged that Merz, who also had his birthday on Wednesday, wanted to go “to an Italian restaurant” with his family.

Climate protection also plays a barely noticeable role in the government's actions: "Unfortunately, I can't yet see that it is doing everything to curb climate change," says Niklas Höhne from the New Climate Institute. "Because there are a lot of things where the current government is doing exactly the opposite."

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There are plenty of examples of this: the fuel discount, the German government's fight in Brussels to phase out combustion engines, the planned postponement of the methane regulation at the European level, also due to German pressure. And then there is the Building Modernization Act, which ensures that heating with oil and gas can still be used after 2045.

Or the reorganization of the Renewable Energy Act (EEG), which is currently being discussed in the Bundestag and which could ensure that the expansion of wind and solar energy soon comes to a halt.

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This is also noticeable in the 2,000-inhabitant town of Berghülen in the Swabian Alb. The local council decided to build wind turbines there at the end of the 1990s. From the beginning, citizens were able to contribute financially. In 2012, an energy cooperative was founded that covered community roofs and an open space with solar panels.

Many residents in Berghülen also have solar panels on their roofs; today, in purely mathematical terms, the community produces almost six times as much green electricity as it consumes. It flows into the public network.

An investor's plans to build a large battery storage facility due to the surplus electricity have fallen through. They say there is too much bureaucracy. Other energy projects are also stalling.

“The main problem I have heard from investors is that network expansion is progressing slowly,” says Mayor Lukas Walter. And since the framework conditions of the EEG amendment are still not known, there is a lack of planning security.

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In Germany we have an ambitious climate protection program packed with measures. It was only in September that Federal Environment Minister Carsten Schneider from the SPD renewed Germany's climate ambitions on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and presented a roadmap for Germany's gradual exit from coal, oil and gas.

Since the measures listed there correspond to what is also in the climate protection program, Economics Minister Katherina Reiche (CDU) could not object. This makes Germany the third country in the world, after France and the Netherlands, to present such a national plan. That's Schneider's achievement.

You can't accuse him of not caring about climate protection, but "Schneider doesn't even have the backing of Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil," notes Greenpeace's Martin Kaiser.

In the coalition partner CDU/CSU, alongside Chancellor Merz, it is above all Economics Minister Reiche who is blocking effective climate protection measures. “Unfortunately, Schneider can’t really prevail against Economics Minister Reiche,” says climate researcher Niklas Höhne. "And this is currently being heard more by the Chancellor. That's why virtually all of the measures that have currently been implemented are ones that increase emissions in the long term, not reduce them."

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If it stays that way, Germany will not achieve its legally stipulated climate goals. Not the interim goals for 2030 and 2040 and not the final goal: climate neutrality in 2045. The Council of Experts on Climate Issues determined this in May. And this is also shown by the current figures from the think tank “Agora Energiewende”.

Germany's greenhouse gas emissions are not going down fast enough. There are many options - for example, by consistently promoting renewable energies from sun or wind, says climate researcher Höhne. Or use the special fund to advance the urgently needed network expansion and get enough batteries online.

The black-red coalition, says Martin Kaiser from Greenpeace, must finally understand that climate protection is not a burden, but an opportunity. “For example for the green tech sector, for the part of the economy that is currently posting growth figures,” says Kaiser. “Above all, it can represent a counterweight to what Donald Trump is currently doing.” This also leads to more economic independence.

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Even if the government is currently acting as if climate protection is an issue that could be addressed at some point, the reality in Germany gives hope in a few places. The number of newly registered pure electric cars was 37 percent in October, which is higher than the number of newly registered combustion engines.

Niklas Höhne expects that from the beginning of next year more than half of the newly registered cars will be purely electric. And almost 80 percent of all new buildings are not planned with gas or oil, but with a heat pump.

This topic in the program: The First | ARD lunchtime magazine | 11/13/2026 | 12:00 p.m.BR24 Radio | News | 11/12/2026 | 3:00 p.m