Over 90% of Germans want govt to invest more in climate-adaptating infrastructure – survey

An overwhelming majority of Germans want the country to ramp up its climate adaptation efforts and better prepare the country's infrastructure against increasingly regular extreme weather events. In a survey commissioned by the national chamber of engineers (BIngK), nearly 92 percent of respondents said that greater investments are needed to make roads, railways, bridges, and dams fit for a warming climate. “The people expect higher investments in climate adaptation by the federal government, the states and the municipalities,” the engineers’ chamber said.

Fears about the impact of extreme weather events are increasing across the country, as Germany prepares to introduce its first binding law on climate adaptation in July, the BIngK argued. The law compels the government to present a “pre-emptive” adaptation strategy by autumn 2025 that spells out how the country plans to address challenges such as floods, droughts, or heat waves. The strategy is supposed to cover infrastructure protection, water management, the construction sector, and land use, but the federal government and the states are so far only debating who should be responsible for funding individual measures. “Even if the required investments are high, doing nothing will lead to much higher costs,” warned BIngK head Heinrich Bökamp, adding that “we need diverse climate action measures now”.

In addition to securing funding, the issue also needs to be anchored in public debates and in individual consciousness regarding the effects of global warming. “Even if the necessity of infrastructure adaptation measures is being recognised among the population, you often run into a ‘not in my backyard’-mentality when it comes to implementation,” Bökamp said. This prolongs implementation procedures or lets projects falter altogether. “We can no longer afford this as a society,” the engineer added.  

The increasing frequency and intensity of flooding, droughts and other extreme weather events in Germany and the rest of Europe has made adaptation to changing climatic conditions a major factor in responding to global warming. Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently pointed out that he had visited four major flooding events in the country in just the first five months of of 2024, as calls for mandatory insurance to protect against natural disasters grow louder.