German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change

Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and severe. Heavy rain, floods, storms, droughts and heatwaves are no longer once-in-a-lifetime events. They are part of a new reality, and we will have to adapt.

Extreme weather events often cause extensive damage. People lose their homes and possessions and, in extreme cases, their lives. The elderly and children are particularly vulnerable to hot weather in summer. Droughts lead to forest fires and crop failure. Heavy rain and high water levels inundate roads, cellars and houses. However, the extent of the damage depends not only on the severity of extreme weather events, but also on how well we prepare for them.

The German government wants to protect people better from the impacts of climate change so that all of us can continue to prosper and lead healthy and safe lives, everywhere in Germany. That is why we are committed to climate action. However, many of the effects of the climate crisis can no longer be prevented. We have to prepare ourselves better, adapt and take precautions. The German government is now working to systematically tackle these challenges with the 2024 German Climate Adaptation Strategy.

Practical adaptation to climate change is, for example, when:

• municipalities protect local residents from the heat, for example by planting trees, setting up awnings for shade, providing drinking fountains and enabling access to well-cooled public buildings.
• companies reorganise their supply chains so they are stable and not disrupted by extreme weather events.
• measures such as more precise forecasting services and adapted transport solutions ensure that rivers like the Rhine can still be navigated when water levels are low, guaranteeing the supply of goods to industry and consumers.
• forests with coniferous monocultures are converted to semi-natural mixed forests because they store more water, are more resilient to drought, cool the surroundings and provide space for recreation.
• floodplains are restored so they can retain a lot of water and keep it from flooding settlements.

By adopting these and many other measures, climate adaptation creates the conditions necessary for us to prosper and lead healthy and safe lives. The strategy is also a large-scale programme designed to achieve greater quality of life and a higher standard of living.

Adaptation and precautionary measures involve many areas of society. This is why climate adaptation is not only an undertaking for the entire German government, but also for the federal states (Länder), municipalities and companies. The German government is providing a framework to advance adaptation in all areas of life.

The Federal Climate Adaptation Act, drawn up under the lead responsibility of the Federal Environment Ministry, entered into force in July 2024. With this act, the German government established a new, binding foundation for adaptation. It requires the federal government, federal states and municipalities to draw up strategies and plans to adapt to global heating based on risk analyses and underpinned with specific programmes of measures.

The Federal Environment Ministry has launched two support programmes to aid federal states and municipalities in their adaptation efforts. These programmes aim in particular to fund climate adaptation managers (DAS) and promote adaptation in social institutions (AnPaSo). The Zentrum KlimaAnpassung, a centre dedicated to climate adaptation, which is the first point of contact for municipalities and social institutions, has been tasked with providing support on issues related to climate adaptation with tailored advice, training and networking.

The 2024 German Climate Adaptation Strategy was adopted by the Federal Cabinet on 11 December 2024. The strategy is the first of its kind in Germany to establish measurable targets for climate adaptation. It contains 33 targets and 45 sub-targets. Most of the targets are to be met by 2030, some by 2050. Target-specific indicators will be used to measure progress. In the process, no additional bureaucracy or reporting requirements will be created for private individuals or companies.

The targets are grouped into seven clusters that represent the entire range of adaptation and precautionary measures:

• Infrastructure
• Land and land use
• Human health and care provision
• Urban development, spatial planning and civil protection
• Water
• Businesses
• Cross-cluster issues

Targets under the clusters water and land and land use that fall within the responsibility of the Federal Environment Ministry include:

• improving soil resilience to the impacts of climate change
• strengthening resilience of water infrastructure
• preserving sufficient, good quality water resources

One example that illustrates the new system of measurable targets and indicators in the Adaptation Strategy:

The strategy sets the target of strengthening resilience of the landscape hydrology. This means, first and foremost, restoring nature’s capacity to retain water. This requires as many unsealed areas of land as possible, which can absorb water, and healthy, loose soils, which can store water for longer periods of time. This is a sub-target of the target to maintain available water resources in the long term.

The indicators help make progress on this target measurable and transparent. One of these indicators is the recovery of natural flooding areas. Recovering natural flooding areas means that bodies of water will have more room and waterways will be reconnected to floodplains. Two other indicators to make progress measurable are currently being drawn up: the amount of peatland that has been rewetted and the amount of agricultural and forestry land that has been drained.

These indicators will help monitor whether and how quickly progress is made.

The German Climate Adaptation Strategy is a joint project of all federal ministries, headed up by the Environment Ministry. Federal states, associations including municipal umbrella organisations, the scientific community and the public were closely involved in the process. The strategy is based on the idea that every ministry is responsible for measures in its own remit. Each ministry contributed targets for its area of responsibility and will be responsible in future for their implementation, financing and monitoring progress.

After the federal states and associations gave their input, the results were submitted to the ministries for review and incorporation into the final strategy.

In future, the goal will be to achieve the strategy’s targets so people and infrastructure can be protected. The fourth Adaptation Action Plan (APA IV), which is also part of the strategy, comprises more than 180 measures.

The Federal Climate Adaptation Act (Klimaanpassungsgesetz, KAnG) requires the new adaptation strategy to be updated every four years. To achieve this, the act stipulates that a monitoring system be used to measure progress towards the targets using indicators. On this basis, targets and measures will be reviewed and, where necessary, updated.

This paves the way for the German government to engage in strategic and dynamic climate adaptation management that is geared towards targets and progress.

In 2008, the German government adopted the German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change (Deutsche Anpassungsstrategie – DAS) under the lead responsibility of the Federal Environment Ministry supported by the German Environment Agency. This strategy laid the foundation for Germany to prepare for the impacts of climate change and reduce climate risks in a continuous process.

Climate risk analyses and adaptation action plans are important elements of this process. As part of the German Adaptation Strategy, the impacts of climate change and adaptation measures undertaken in Germany are regularly monitored. The strategy provides the basis for climate adaptation policy in Germany.