Federal Constitutional Court: What the ruling on the climate fund means for Germany's nature

Enlarge image

Photo: Martin Wagner / IMAGO

The ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court also affects funds for climate protection programmes of the Federal Environment Ministry. In the next year alone, around one billion euros from the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF) were supposed to flow into several funding measures, including the Natural Climate Protection Action Program, as SPIEGEL learned from ministry circles.

This also affects climate adaptation measures in municipalities, especially in rural areas. These include, for example, the renaturation of floodplain landscapes and moors. Further funds were actually intended for energy efficiency measures for consumers, such as electricity savings checks, and for the climate-resilient conversion of forests.

In fact, the Natural Climate Action Programme should be financed exclusively from the KTF. In March, the Federal Cabinet approved the four-billion-euro action programme: this sum was to be invested by 2026, for example to rewet peatlands or to green cities. A total of 69 projects are planned, in ten fields of action ranging from oceans and forests to research.

The restoration of peatlands, forests, floodplains and bodies of water is intended to help bind CO₂ in the climate crisis, but also to help adapt to weather extremes. German forests in particular are already under enormous heat stress and suffer from water shortages. According to the latest forest condition report, only a little more than 20 percent are completely healthy.

As part of the programme, for example, coniferous plantations are to be converted into near-natural mixed forests or floodplains are to be restored. The measures are also intended to contribute to groundwater recharge. The aim is to make ecosystems more resilient in order to contribute to the achievement of climate protection goals in the long term. In addition, a new competence centre for "Natural Climate Protection" was to coordinate the measures.

"Basic consensus on climate precaution called into question"

The ministry now wants to wait for consultations with the other ministries. "We will, of course, respect the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court," said a visibly upset Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke on Thursday afternoon during the parliamentary debate on the new Climate Adaptation Act. However, she could not understand the "secret joy" of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group that climate protection measures now had to be reorganized two weeks before the UN climate conference in Dubai. Climate preparedness and adaptation were once "basic democratic consensus," she said. This consensus has now been called into question.

On Thursday, just one day after the KTF decision, the Bundestag passed the new Climate Adaptation Act, which is intended to prepare municipalities for more frequent extreme weather. It now only has to go through the Federal Council. But its implementation also costs money – far more than the one billion euros now at stake for 2024.

55 billion for climate adaptation: where to get it from?

Exactly how much it will cost cities and municipalities to adapt to more frequent extreme weather events has not yet been officially quantified. Last year, the Conference of Environment Ministers estimated the required financial resources at around 55 billion euros. In addition, 16,200 jobs would be needed. The development of the adaptation concepts of the municipalities alone costs one to two billion euros. The answer to the question of where the money should come from has now become even more difficult after the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court.

Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) has announced that the funds from the KTF to promote energy efficiency and renewable energies in the building sector will be procured elsewhere. They are considered to be flagship measures. But what will become of the funds for renaturation, forest conversion or climate adaptation managers in municipalities, which have so far been little known to the public, is still completely open.

"We have to get back to the basic consensus that we have to protect people from the dramatic consequences of the climate crisis," said the Federal Environment Minister in the Bundestag. "We have to pursue climate protection policy and, of course, back it up with sufficient financial resources."