One of the most densely populated and industrialised countries in Europe, Germany was a pioneer at introducing legislation on the federal, as well as ‘Laender’ (states), level to deal with severe pollution of water, soil, and air, to prevent unsustainable resource consumption, and to contribute to the protection of the atmosphere and global climatic conditions[4].
An MP shapes Germany’s determination to protect the environment…
“A planet is plundered” – a book written by German MP Herbert Gruhl – not only became a bestseller when it was published in 1975 but also shaped Germany’s stance on environmental protection for decades to come. In his book, Gruhl – similar to the Club of Rome’s report “The Limits to Growth” three years earlier – warned about the finiteness of global resources and the destructive environmental impact of the economies of Western industrialised countries. While the idea of limited resources sparked a new public debate in the country about how to address this fundamental issue, Germany had already acknowledged that the environment needed protection: in 1969, a new government, a coalition of liberal and labour parties, pledged to introduce measures to prevent damage to human health, vegetation, animals and property. In 1971, it passed an environmental programme that also included the reduction of air pollution, targeting to reduce automobile emissions to 10% of the mean value of 1969 by 1980[5].
In 1978, one of Germany’s main political parties, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), added a fourth dimension to its previous economic policy target triangle of “full employment, price stability and steady growth in external balance”, stating in its ‘Ludwigshafen program’ that “the attainment of these goals is not enough on its own to ensure solidarity with future generations. They must therefore be extended to ensure the environmental future of our community” and making clear that “the preservation of natural life support systems is part of our responsible freedom. Who irresponsibly exploits the natural life support system in the present and interferes in the ecological relationships, violates the solidarity between the generations?”[6]
With environmental awareness gaining momentum across the country, the German government declared in 1984 that it wanted the country to become “environmentally friendlier” and take a pioneering role in energy and environmental policy – and it would emphasise its commitment with a fiercely debated key environmental policy in the same year.
…while acid rain, “Waldsterben”, Chernobyl and Fukushima deeply affect the population …
When growing concerns about “Waldsterben” (“dying forests”), linked to acid rain as well as nitric oxide emitted mostly from cars, dominated the public debate and media coverage in the early 1980s, Germany became the first European country to draft a law for further reductions of automobile emissions. This law included the requirement for all petrol car engines to have a catalytic converter and the introduction of unleaded petrol (which was essential for the converters to work properly)[7]. While German carmakers protested that the policy heavily disadvantaged their industry against its international competitors and German car owners feared considerably higher costs, the government stuck to the policy, offering tax incentives for those willing to buy new cars with catalysts before 1989 and for owners who were willing to retrofit their vehicles[8].
With public awareness of environmental issues further increasing, German regulators continued to be very active over the next two decades in shaping environmental policies and in 1994 introduced environmental protection as a state objective into the German Constitution[9]. However, it was Germany’s “Energiewende” (“energy turnaround”) that brought wide public backing and international acclaim. The “Energiewende” became the name for Germany’s transition to a low-carbon, nuclear-free economy, which the German government under Chancellor Angela Merkel outlined in its 2010 energy strategy (which interestingly makes no mention of the word “Energiewende[10]). Key elements of the strategy include the phase-out of nuclear power by 2022 and of coal by 2038 at the latest, while the country’s electricity production should switch to renewables.
The decision to abandon nuclear power was a consequence of the fierce protests culminating in an anti-nuclear movement after the Chernobyl disaster in April 1986, which had shaken the German population to the core, causing the acceptance of nuclear technology to drop dramatically: in 1982, 52% of Germans were for the construction of more nuclear power plants, in April 1984 – in the aftermath of Chernobyl – 83% demanded an immediate stop[11].
In 2011, the German government went one (drastic) step further: four days after the incident in the Fukushima nuclear power plant on 11 March, with emotions running high across the population, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a “nuclear halt”. The seven oldest reactors in Germany were temporarily closed (and ultimately wouldn’t return to the grid). On 22 March, the newly created “Ethics Commission for Safe Energy Supplies” started its work and later published a report, which confirmed the importance of phasing-out nuclear power as soon as possible; proposing 2021 as the deadline (one year earlier than agreed in the 2010 energy strategy)[12]. Since then, other countries have been closely watching Germany – as an early adopter of an energy transition – for lessons on how to wean a major economy off fossil fuels without sacrificing growth[13].
Fast forward to 2021, climate change was the German voters’ top concern when they went to the polling stations on 26 September for a federal election that saw Angela Merkel’s reign come to an end after 16 years. And while each of the two big parties, the CDU/CSU and the SPD, are courting the Liberals (FDP) and the Green Party to form a coalition, the voters’ mandate is clear: the new government will have to put climate considerations at the top of their agenda - setting the trajectory for future net zero and other environmental policies and action.
Meanwhile, an historic court ruling (which we cover in more detail later in this article) sends out a stark signal that the legislative powers, too, are closely looking and carefully assessing whether the government’s environmental ambitions are sufficient to ensure the wellbeing of future generations: Germany’s highest court ruled in April this year that key parts of the country’s Climate Change Act from 2019 are insufficient, and the law therefore was partly unconstitutional, demanding immediate improvements.
…and the government seeks international cooperation …
Appreciating that environmental issues don’t observe national borders, Germany, located in the centre of a densely populated region, sought international legal and political cooperation concerning the environment early on, signing multinational UN treaties as well as numerous multilateral and bilateral treaties and agreements. A few examples: Germany belongs to several international commissions on the protection of the transboundary rivers Rhine, Moselle and Saar, Elbe, and Oder; to a Dutch-German and a Polish-German Commission on the Protection of Transboundary Water Bodies. The country is also party to several international agreements for the prevention of ocean pollution and signed a convention on the protection of the Alps in 1991[14].
… while nudging the EU to take climate action …
Among EU member states, Germany had a reputation as a leader in environmental policy and often nudged – if not pushed – the EU legislator to adopt environmental measures across all EU countries – a move that wasn’t purely based on environmental concerns but also stemmed from the motivation to retain the competitiveness of its economy within the EU[15].
Today, considered to have the most extensive environmental laws of any international organisation, the Institute for European Environmental Policy estimates that EU environmental law amounts to well over 500 directives, regulations and decisions, directly impacting how its member states address climate and other environmental issues. Climate targets, for example, derived from the EU’s emission reduction plans, with almost 60% of total domestic EU emissions limited under the “Effort Sharing Regulation”, covering emissions from those industries not included in the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS): transport, buildings, waste, some smaller industries and agriculture[16]. The Effort Sharing Regulation stipulated that member states must achieve an overall emissions reduction of 30% by 2030, compared to 2005 levels. Countries were, however, required to contribute depending on their relative wealth, meaning that Germany had a much higher responsibility than some other EU countries: the country’s allocated emission reduction target was set at 38% by 2030[17].
Aiming to transform almost all aspects of the EU economy in order to achieve net carbon neutrality by 2050, the EU announced its €1 trillion European Green Deal[18] in December 2019. The deal meant that Germany and the other 26 member states would be heavily affected because their 2030 GHG emissions reduction targets would have to be raised in order to meet the new Green Deal targets[19].
… and calling for a green COVID-19 recovery on EU level …
In April 2020, Chancellor Angela Merkel said recovery efforts post the COVID-19 pandemic “will not just be a question of carrying on as we did before the pandemic” and called for the EU’s recovery fund to invest in “climate action”; an aim that has the support of Germany’s business community: over 60 German companies — including household names such as Bayer, ThyssenKrupp and Puma — issued a joint statement calling for any stimulus they receive to be tied to a green transition: “We appeal to the federal government to closely link economic policy measures to overcome both the climate crisis and the coronavirus crisis,” they wrote. Some have offered specific proposals. Salzgitter AG, for example, one of Europe’s biggest steel manufacturers, is lobbying the government to seize this moment to transition steel production from coal-powered to hydrogen-fuelled now[20].
…while suffering court defeat with its first major climate law
Germany’s first major national climate law, the Climate Protection Act, entered into force on 18 December 2019 as part of an extensive climate package – which we outline in detail in our second Germany article – to reach 2030 climate targets in line with EU goals[21].
Under the act, Germany is obliged to cut GHG emissions by 55% by 2030, relative to 1990 levels. It also sets-out yearly upper limits for greenhouse gases across various sectors such as energy, transport, buildings and agriculture. If these individual targets are missed, an obligation to make improvements takes effect. Furthermore, it stated that an independent council of experts on climate issues will be set-up to evaluate emissions data, changes in climate action programmes and more[22] – the five members were appointed in August 2020[23].
However, in what was widely hailed a historic decision, Germany’s highest court ruled in April 2021 that key parts of the climate law are insufficient, and the law therefore was partly unconstitutional. As a result, the Constitutional Court demanded that the government introduce details on GHG reduction targets for the period after 2030 by the end of 2022[24]. The landmark ruling came after ‘Fridays for Future’ and other climate activists, supported by Germanwatch and Greenpeace, had sued the German government in early 2020 over what they said was its insufficient action to tackle climate change[25].
Presented in May 2021 as the first reform of the law, the government proposed to reduce emissions by 65% by 2030 (from the current goal of 55%, and in line with the EU’s Green Deal targets) and introduced a new goal of an 88% reduction by 2040[26].
