Germany still struggling to truly mainstream climate adaptation

For many years, Germany has experienced the effects of climate change in the form of worsening heat waves, droughts, and mild winters. But the alarm bells only started ringing in earnest when floods killed almost 200 people in the country’s worst natural disaster in half a century in July 2021, a catastrophe widely attributed to rising temperatures.

It began to dawn on both the general public and policymakers that preparing for the unavoidable consequences of climate change is as important as cutting emissions, as Germany is also seeing more frequent heat strokes, allergies, failed harvests, transport disruptions, forest fires, and low water levels in rivers and lakes.

The country has had adaptation strategies and action plans in place for over a decade, but measures have remained mostly voluntary. That is about to change with the government introducing a framework to set binding rules for climate adaptation efforts at national and state level.

However, more needs to be done, according to experts such as Christian Kind, programme head of climate adaptation at independent think tank adelphi. “We need to take adaptation from a topic that we recognise is important, but we don’t prioritise, to something we integrate in decision-making at all levels,” Kind said.

When deciding where to spend money on adaptation measures, the areas society values most demand the greatest attention and resources, Kind said. This includes human health in the short term — protecting lives and preventing the dangerous impacts of extreme weather events — but also the wellbeing of future generations in the long-term, which involves resilient urban planning, biodiversity protection and forest management.

“Because we have a limited budget, there needs to be a discussion about the risks we want to accept as a society and the ones we don’t,” Kind said. “It’s an important discussion because there will never be 100 percent protection, and getting to 99 percent would be very costly.”

When it comes to financing adaptation, it’s hard to put a number on how much money is available, as there are direct adaptation measures amongst other policies relevant for adaptation. Insulating buildings, for example, both reduces energy consumption and better protects citizens against the heat of summer.

As many adaptation measures are not very tangible, it can be difficult to justify funding for them. To change this perception, it is important to keep the public interested in the effects of climate change beyond individual extreme weather events, Kind says.

Cities and municipalities, for example, need to rebuild sewage systems, re-plan urban spaces so they can better absorb rainwater and digitally monitor water levels. “This will cost a lot of money,” said Green Party politician Annalena Baerbock, who has since become foreign minister. "But if we keep with the status quo instead of investing now, it will eventually become unaffordably expensive and create an incredible amount of suffering."

As a rule of thumb, the private sector should also take into account the risks of climate change throughout their decision-making processes. Climate adaption tends to only get discussed when things go wrong, like recent low water levels in the Rhine River, which have disrupted supply chains and forced companies to find alternative solutions.

In rural areas, the potential for adaptation is huge. However, there are often a lot of small players over large areas trying to implement measures such as the renaturation of rivers to prevent flooding, so communication and team work are essential. Additionally, it is often hard to reconcile the economic pressure to use land for agriculture with leaving land fallow for climate protection.

To facilitate much-needed adaptation funding, environmental NGOs have called for reforms to Germany’s Basic Law — the country’s constitution — so that the federal and state governments are obliged to carry out municipal climate protection and climate adaptation tasks and also to finance them.

Germany has already implemented many exemplary adaptation projects. Recently, municipalities along the Bocholter Aa river in western Germany joined forces to be better protected against floods. This initiative forms the basis for the implementation of technical and ecological measures — including citizen education and water retention areas — to help during floods and periods of heavy rainfall across municipalities. The adaptation plan received a federal ‘Blue Compass’ Award 2022, the highest governmental award for climate adaptation projects.

It is not only the public sector that is advancing adaptation measures, the private sector is also getting involved. An enterprise in central Germany’s Hessen also received a Blue Compass award for growing seasonable vegetables where the consumers are, being resource and land-efficient, and constantly adapting their strategy to changing temperatures – also known as integrated and dynamic agricultural planning.

Many actions are more inconspicuous, such as the inter-ministerial working group, which gathers knowledge and coordinates activities and communication between government ministries at a national, state and municipal level. “It’s not a given that ministries talk to each other during policymaking, and it takes a lot of work,” Kind said, adding that such a holistic approach is key for successful climate adaption.

Municipalities and social institutions can find support at the Information Centre for Climate Adaptation (Zentrum KlimaAnpassung), inaugurated in 2021. The advisory centre supports in initiating and implementing adaptation measures in three key ways; by helping to develop knowledge and selecting and using funding; in the training and further education of staff; and in exchange and networking for the implementation of projects.