(de-news.net) – The Federal Cabinet is wrapping up a two-day retreat at Neuhardenberg Castle in Brandenburg, where ministers are examining the heat wave that has marked this summer and considering its broader policy implications. The Government is expected to assess the situation before determining what, if any, measures should follow, with decisions on potential actions likely to be deferred to later cabinet meetings. The retreat was convened primarily to coordinate the Government’s political priorities for the coming weeks, but climate and heat protection have emerged as prominent issues.
Another issue already on the agenda is a Finance Ministry proposal to expand the planned sugar tax to additional products, including smoothies, oat milk and artificially sweetened beverages. The proposal has drawn criticism from members of the conservative Union bloc, who have argued that it goes too far. Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), has maintained that the initiative has the backing of the Federal Government as a whole.
The unusually intense heat, combined with historically low river levels, has sharpened calls for stronger climate adaptation measures. Britta Haßelmann, the Green Party’s parliamentary leader, has urged the Government to make the climate crisis a central focus of its policy agenda, arguing that cities and municipalities are not adequately equipped to manage increasingly extreme weather events. In particular, she has called for swift measures to protect vulnerable people in hospitals, nursing homes and residential care facilities, where preparations for periods of extreme heat remain inadequate.
Haßelmann has argued that existing funding mechanisms do not provide sufficient resources for the scale of the challenge and should therefore be supplemented by an emergency climate program. The immediate concern, in her view, is not only reducing future climate risks but also strengthening the capacity of public institutions to protect people from hazards that are already occurring.
She has assigned particular responsibility to Chancellor Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), saying that his recent recognition of the need to confront climate change should now be followed by concrete government action. At the same time, Haßelmann has rejected the idea that climate protection must come at the expense of economic growth. Environmental protection, prosperity and economic development, she argues, need to be considered as interconnected policy objectives rather than competing priorities.
Heidi Reichinnek, the parliamentary leader of the Left Party, has taken a more skeptical view of the proposed constitutional amendment that would allow the Federal Government to provide financial support to municipalities for climate adaptation. She doubts that the measure can secure the required two-thirds majority in Parliament, particularly because the governing coalition depends on support beyond its own ranks. Instead, she has called for firm financial commitments to climate adaptation to be incorporated into the 2027 budget and for clear schedules to guide implementation.
The Left Party has also called for a national heat-action plan that would combine early-warning systems, public communication strategies, defined risk assessments and measurable protection targets for schools and hospitals. Reichinnek has argued that treating climate protection as prohibitively expensive would ultimately expose society to much larger costs by increasing vulnerability to climate-related disasters.
Sören Pellmann, the Left Party’s co-leader, has similarly criticized the Government’s approach, arguing that the Merz administration is advancing climate policy only when it remains compatible with economic interests. He has accused the Government of slowing the expansion of renewable energy while deepening Germany’s dependence on fossil fuels.
Climate scientist urges Germany to act
The parliamentary arithmetic presents an additional obstacle to constitutional reform. The Union and SPD together do not command the two-thirds majority required to amend the constitution. The measure would therefore require support either from the Greens and the Left Party or from the Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Mojib Latif, a climate researcher at Kiel University, has also urged the Government to place both climate mitigation and adaptation higher on its agenda. He has questioned whether a constitutional amendment specifically addressing heat protection is necessary, pointing instead to existing constitutional provisions concerning human dignity and the state’s responsibility to protect natural resources for future generations. In his assessment, the essential obligations are already established within the existing legal framework, provided that those provisions are effectively implemented.
Latif has criticized what he sees as a retreat from climate policy under the CDU-SPD coalition, particularly in relation to renewable energy. Although Germany cannot address climate change by acting alone, he argues that the country has an important role as an example for other nations. For that reason, he has said, decisions affecting the expansion of renewable energy carry significance beyond Germany’s borders.
Climate adaptation, meanwhile, remains an immediate concern because the country is still poorly prepared for increasing heat risks. The scale of the potential health consequences has underscored the urgency of that issue. According to the Robert Koch Institute, heat-related causes could claim more than 14,000 lives this year, with nearly 10,000 deaths recorded by the end of June.
Latif has argued that a comparable number of deaths from another type of disaster would likely generate a far greater public reaction. The relative lack of alarm over heat-related mortality, he cautioned, reflects a serious failure to confront the human consequences of extreme heat and the growing risks associated with a changing climate.
CDU rejects shared responsibility for federal-state climate adaptation
On Wednesday, it became known that the CDU continues to oppose an amendment to Germany’s Basic Law that would establish climate adaptation as a shared responsibility of the federal and state governments. Thorsten Frei, the CDU/CSU parliamentary leader, argued that such a constitutional provision would not resolve the problems currently confronting policymakers and could instead make institutional responsibilities less clear. The proposal has gained renewed attention after a series of heat waves this summer, prompting several SPD ministers to call for a constitutional change. The Cabinet is expected to address the issue today, as Green Party leader Brantner has accused the Government of responding too slowly to the effects of climate change.
The discussion comes as the Federal Cabinet enters the second and final day of its retreat at Neuhardenberg Castle, where ministers are also expected to consider the coalition government’s broader policy agenda and next steps. The pension system is among the issues facing the Government, with Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) saying that the coalition intends to complete its pension reform by the end of the year despite political resistance. The Federal Government is expected to brief the public around midday on the conclusions reached during the retreat and the course it intends to pursue.
Latif also sharply criticized the coalition’s broader approach to climate policy, warning that Germany was moving away from its previous course. He expressed particular concern that Government plans could slow the expansion of renewable energy, which he regarded as a significant element of Germany’s climate strategy. While acknowledging that Germany cannot prevent global climate change by acting alone, he emphasized that the country nonetheless has a role as an example for other nations.
Climate adaptation, Latif argued, requires equally urgent attention because Germany remains insufficiently prepared for increasingly severe heat risks. He cited estimates from the Robert Koch Institute indicating that more than 14,000 people have died from heat-related causes this year, including nearly 10,000 by the end of June. The scale of those deaths, he argued, illustrates the gap between the magnitude of the risk and the public response. Had a comparable number of deaths resulted from another type of disaster, he said, the reaction across Germany would likely have been considerably stronger.
