Gov't asks German cities and municipalities to provide climate change risk assessments
Table.Media
The German government has called for municipalities to prepare risk analyses on the expected impacts of climate change throughout Germany. In an with Table.Media, environment minister Steffi Lemke stressed the need for new municipal urban planning procedures, explaining that all sectors of society, agriculture, construction and logistics were being affected by climate change. 鈥淭he entirety of city and community planning also needs to be rethought,鈥� she stressed, noting that municipalities needed to examine their local conditions. 鈥淎daptation to the climate crisis must be considered everywhere,鈥� she added. 鈥淔or far too long, we鈥檝e ignored the consequences of the climate crisis that are being felt here in concrete terms.鈥� In the face of climate change, Germany must adapt to cope with 鈥渢oo much or too little water and rising temperatures at the same time.鈥�
Lemke admitted that changing course quickly will be difficult. 鈥淭his is not a quick turnaround, but rather the reversal of a tanker that has been traveling in the same wrong direction for a long time.鈥� The draining of moors, the expansion of rivers into waterways, while creating great prosperity, are developments that have operated against nature and cannot be quickly reversed, she added. She warned that doing nothing for climate protection and nature conservation would lead to 鈥渟ignificantly more losers鈥� and leave the state unable to financially compensate for the severe consequences.
In July, the federal cabinet adopted a bill that would require the government to present a strategy by 2025 with targets to deal with the effects of climate change. Municipalities would also be required to draw up local risk analyses and adaptation plans, although many say they would be unable to finance such measures. Proponents of greater climate adaptation argue that Germany has failed to implement measures despite deadly floods and droughts in recent years.
