2024-07-05 02:17:55
In the future, Germany must be better prepared for extreme weather events such as heavy rain, storms and high temperatures. A law that comes into force on Monday is intended to make a decisive contribution to this.
Climate change is a reality – and many people in Germany are now feeling its effects. Extreme weather is becoming more frequent, and the so-called once-in-a-century floods no longer occur just once a century.
This also means that anyone who does not adapt to the effects and redesign their environment accordingly has lost out. Germany still has a long way to go here – which is now set to be significantly shortened with the new climate adaptation law. It comes into force this Monday.
It obliges the federal and state governments to present strategies that enable comprehensive climate protection. In concrete terms, the law sets out a framework for taking emergency measures in heavy rain hotspots or improving heat protection for particularly vulnerable groups such as the elderly and infants.
Until now, the creation of corresponding concepts in the municipalities was voluntary. The new law makes this task mandatory for everyone. The federal government is thus also committed to “presenting a precautionary climate adaptation strategy with measurable goals, updating it regularly and implementing it on an ongoing basis,” explained Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens). The strategy mentioned will be in place by the end of the year.
For the minister, it is clear that precautions must now be taken at full speed in order to minimize future damage caused by extreme weather. This also means more financial involvement from the federal government, as Lemke repeatedly stresses. Her ministry estimates the financial need for implementing climate adaptation measures by 2030 at 38 billion euros. Where exactly this much money will come from is still unclear. The new law also leaves this question unanswered.
The states are primarily responsible for adaptation. In recent years, so-called climate adaptation managers have started work in a number of municipalities. They develop adaptation concepts on site and advise their respective municipalities on things like how to deal with heavy rain and where more green spaces can be created.
So far, the Federal Environment Ministry has, according to its own information, funded 125 positions for adaptation managers. However, it is unclear how many have already started their jobs. There is no obligation to report the specific positions filled, it says.
One person who has been in office since August 2023 is Jan-Hendrik Jochens from Saarbrücken. He is the only climate adaptation manager so far in Saarland, which was recently hit by severe flooding. When he thinks of the new law, he is hopeful that adaptation to the effects of the climate crisis will progress more quickly in the future.
The concept for the city of Saarbrücken is due to be completed next summer. However, how many such concepts are already in place and being implemented, as well as the exact number of adaptation managers, is not yet known. The Federal Environment Agency is currently conducting a survey on this and will not present the results until September. By September 30, the federal states must also inform Lemke’s ministry for the first time how many concepts have already been drawn up. The new law expressly provides for this inventory, which is to be repeated every two years.
For climate activists like Clara Reemtsma from Fridays for Future, all of this is not enough. “It is an illusion to think that the government’s inadequate climate protection can be compensated for by more adaptation,” she told the dpa. If the federal government does not do more to stop global warming, it will be “consciously accepting the escalation of the climate crisis.” While the Climate Adaptation Act is being passed, the federal government is continuing to miss its climate targets and is thus failing “in the most important area of disaster protection.”
Activists are not the only ones who complain that there are still gaps at many levels. Experts have long been calling for an expansion of insurance coverage for the population, for example. Politicians have so far been unable to bring themselves to introduce compulsory insurance that could protect all homeowners from ruin in the event of flood-related damage.
In this country, only around 50 percent of private buildings are insured against natural hazards – that is, against damage caused by flooding, among other things. The federal states are clearly in favor of compulsory insurance and point to the high sums that the state had to shoulder after the July floods in 2021, for example. The General Association of Insurers puts these costs at just under nine billion euros.