Climate and Environment  The German Environmental Movement in Transition

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, climate and environmental protection have been overshadowed by many other crises. According to experts, this has always been the case. However, there is now a new threat from the far right.

There are those brief windows of time when climate and environmental protection receive the attention they rarely get. In 2019, one such window opened: Fridays for Future organised the largest global climate strike to date, with 1.4 million people taking to the streets in Germany alone. However, public interest in environmental and climate issues began to fade shortly afterwards. The topic was barely present in this year's federal election campaign, and the Green Party lost three percentage points. So what happened, and what is the current state of ecological interest and engagement among Germans?

An Overview of the German Environmental Movement

The environmental movement in Germany has always been influenced by global events. For example, the oil crisis of the 1970s and the subsequent plans for new nuclear power stations led many people to protest against nuclear energy. This, in turn, gave momentum to the entire environmental movement. Since the 1990s, major environmental organisations have expanded their resources and structures, gained more members and supporters, and secured larger budgets and more staff as a result. NABU is today the largest environmental association in Germany, with 960,000 members — more than the country's two biggest political parties, the CDU and SPD, combined (each with around 400,000 members). Altogether, there are around 33,000 associations in Germany that are primarily dedicated to environmental and nature conservation.

Although the environmental movement is diverse and complex, there are two principles that unite its various members. Firstly, they recognise humans as part of, rather than a threat to, ecosystems. Secondly, they pursue their goals non-violently. This is not the case everywhere. According to data from the World Values Survey, 85 per cent of members of the German environmental movement believe that political violence is never justified. In the US, by comparison, only 42 per cent share this view.

Who Gets Involved in the German Environmental Movement?

The World Values Survey also sheds light on this question. Around ten percent of the German population are members of an environmental organisation. This places Germany in the lower middle range compared to other countries. Kenya ranks highest, with almost 40 per cent of people actively engaged. Other countries in the Global South also demonstrate high levels of environmental engagement.

In recent years, the German environmental movement has seen many new faces join its ranks. One of the most prominent is Luisa Neubauer, one of the leading organisers of Fridays for Future. She and her fellow campaigners have convinced many people of the need for greater climate protection. According to a study by the German Environment Agency (UBA), in 2020, environmental awareness in Germany reached an all-time high, with 65 percent of respondents considering environmental and climate protection to be very important.

Environmental Awareness Today

Environmental awareness declined after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and has now returned to roughly the same level as in 2016: only 54 percent of respondents in the latest UBA study rated environmental and climate protection as very important. Fridays for Future is also experiencing a decline in participation. According to experts, this decline in environmental awareness is not solely due to the pandemic, but also to the many other crises that have characterised recent years and continue to do so: the war in Ukraine, geopolitical tensions, and steep increases in energy prices and the cost of living. According to the UBA study, all of this has overshadowed the societal importance of climate and environmental protection. Furthermore, the controversial actions of the protest group Last Generation, coupled with the heated debate surrounding the so-called “Heating Act”, may also have contributed to the decline in public support. Amid this complex situation, for several years now, ultraconservative and far-right groups have been attempting to claim environmental protection as their own issue. While groups such as the Bavarian Association for Species Protection, Landscape Conservation and Biodiversity (VLAB) primarily oppose wind turbines, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party uses environmental protection as a pretext to incite hatred. Using the concept of "ecological carrying capacity", the AfD claims that a habitat can only support a limited number of living beings, thus instrumentalising environmental protection to justify its xenophobic stance on migration.

What Lies Ahead?

One thing is clear: the German environmental movement is changing. However, this is not a new phenomenon. Crises and external factors have repeatedly influenced its development. According to the UBA study, these developments give rise to specific political responsibilities. Policymakers must pay more attention to different lifestyles and social issues, and make it clearer that ambitious climate and environmental protection improves everyone's life.
Furthermore, a study by the Independent Institute for Environmental Issues (UfU) suggests that environmental organisations should enhance their communication strategies by conducting more fact-checks and managing social media more professionally, for instance. They should also raise awareness among volunteers of far-right influences.

July 2025