Germany sets first national legally-binding climate adaptation targets

Germany's environment ministry has presented the draft "Climate Adaptation Strategy", which for the first time sets legally-binding, measurable climate adaptation targets for the country.

The draft, drawn up with input from all ministries, includes 34 overarching goals for climate adaptation in the areas of human health, urban development and special planning, land use, civil protection, infrastructure, water management, and the economy, as well as measures that affect more than one sector at once.

The "Climate Adaptation Strategy" is part of Germany's climate adaptation law, which came into force in July and makes it legally binding for the country and the federal 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.

Stakeholders and the federal states have until the end of October to submit their feedback, with the cabinet expected to adopt the strategy by December.

Setting measurable targets

The 34 overarching targets are subdivided into smaller aims which, in turn, include individual indicators and measures to be taken. Most targets are to be achieved by 2030, although some extend until 2050.

These would, for example, require local authorities to improve infrastructure to protect against flooding and create green spaces to provide shade and cooling during heatwaves; facilities such as hospitals and care homes to create heat action plans; utilities to adapt infrastructure to better manage water during periods of heavy rain or drought; and the state to develop better alarm systems for severe weather warnings.

In the area of infrastructure, for example, the government aims to optimise transport and logistics provisions in Germany's waterways for low water periods between 2030 and 2040. Additionally, by 2050, it aims to reduce disruptions to road and rail transport caused by weather events, and make the building stock more resilient against floods.

One of the agriculture aims is to have no climate-related decline in the security of supply of agricultural products. Health targets include strengthening the population's capacity to adapt to heat by 2030, as well as improve people's ability to deal with pollen allergies and prevent infectious diseases.

Specifically, this means that by 2030 "significantly more people" should state that they are informed about helpful measures for pollen allergies or should be better informed on how to avoid vector-borne diseases (the risk for which increases through climate change), compared to a reference year yet to be defined (probably 2025/2026). The target also includes improving conditions in municipalities, as well as health and care facilities, to deal with health risks posed by a changing climate.

The government has also set the target to increase the reach of warning messages to the population. To measure this, it set the aim of increasing the number of users of the "NINA warning app" by 30 percent by 2030, compared to the number of users in February 2024 (around 14.3 million).

Environment minister Steffi Lemke said that measuring the targets would not be easy, reported dpa. While climate mitigation efforts can be measured through CO2 reductions, there is no single indicator for climate adaptation, Lemke said. Therefore, a monitoring system with indicators tailored to each individual area would measure whether the targets were achieved or not.

Mainstreaming climate adaptation

Germany is increasingly feeling the effects of climate change. More frequent extreme weather events such as extended hot periods and drought or heavy flooding could lead to a cumulative economic damage of between 280 and 900 billion euros in the country, depending on the severity of global warming, a 2023 report commissioned by the government found.

But towns and cities are insufficiently prepared to deal with more frequent and more severe flooding, periods of high heat, drought and water shortages, according to a report by technical university RPTU Kaiserslautern. Meanwhile, prolonged drought and more frequent heavy rainfall as a result of climate change will have a significant impact on groundwater levels in central Germany, found a report by the Lower Saxony State Office for Water Management, Coastal and Nature Conservation (NLWKN).

While the country has had an adaptation strategy in place since 2008, most measures remained voluntary until now. A lack of financial and human resources slows the implementation of preparation efforts against the impacts of climate change, and a fragmented approach is also considered a major hurdle.

Experts have warned that climate adaptation is still not mainstreamed enough, and that planning decisions continue to be made without considering the potential effects of a warming world – such as constructing homes in flood-prone areas. Implementing, not merely planning, adaptation measures remains a challenge.