Many German cities badly prepared for rising temperatures – report

The majority of cities in Germany do not adequately protect people from the increasing incidence of extremely high temperatures associated with the climate crisis, according to a report by NGO Environmental Action Germany (DUH). In its first ‘heat check’ report, the DUH examined 190 German cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants and concluded that many cities are heavily sealed and offer too little green space for cooling air temperatures. In total, 24 cities received a red card, 82 a yellow card and 84 a green card.

Slapped with a red card to indicate a very low level of preparedness, the cities of Ludwigshafen, Heilbronn, Regensburg, Worms, Mainz, Ludwigsburg and Ingolstadt performed particularly poorly, being heavily sealed and with very little greenery. Among the cities that received a green card and scoring the best due to comparatively little sealing and a high green volume were Detmold, Ratingen, Potsdam and Jena. Cities given a yellow card included those that are extremely heavily sealed, but have a lot of green volume.

“We are calling on the federal government to set a legally binding target to stop sealing land in Germany by 2035 at the latest,” said DUH executive director Barbara Metz. “In times of the climate crisis, our cities need unsealed soils for water to seep through and green spaces for cooling.” Metz stressed that green grass is not enough, noting that it was “not only crucial that sealing is stopped and removed where possible, but above all that trees, bushes and meadows are found in our cities alongside lawns.” The trend towards more concrete and less green is transforming cities into “heat hells” rather than “liveable places for recreation,” Metz added. “We demand mandatory green areas at the municipal level and reconstruction instead of new construction.”

Germany's buildings ministry recently published an urban heat protection strategy to better protect people and infrastructure in cities during periods of high heat. Among the strategy's fields of action are the creation of more green spaces and the unsealing of asphalted surfaces. Moreover, Germany now requires municipalities and states to draw up climate risk assessments and implement measures to better deal with increasing periods of heavy rain, high heat and more frequent flooding. In the summer of 2023, the health ministry introduced a heat action plan aimed at preventing excess mortality linked to high temperatures.