With just over a head to the ballot box, Pit Terjung is preparing to hit Berlin’s streets.
As speaker for the country’s branch of the youth climate movement Fridays for Future, he’ll join protestors in the city center this Friday, urging the next government to take affordable, just and consistent
But the mood facing the nation’s today is very different to the optimistic momentum Terjung witnessed at mass demonstrations back in 2019 — which brought an estimated
“It is definitely hard times for climate activism right now,” he says.
In stark contrast to Germany’s 2021’s federal election where it was high on the agenda, in current campaigns by heated debates on immigration, a flagging economy and ascendent far-right.
Terjung, who at 19 is preparing to vote for the first time, says the near absence of climate action in current election campaigns is a dramatic contrast to the physical realities of the planet. “We just came out of the hottest year in human history.”
Remaining active within a changing landscape
Although he says the last few years have seen huge wins for Germany’s climate movement — such as the climate law which commits the country to reducing emissions 65% by 2035 — he believes Friedrich Merz, leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and likely Germany’s next chancellor, will “roll back very existential pillars of climate policy.”
Climate policies — such as the , the ban on new combustion engine cars in the EU and the phasing out of fossil-fuel heating systems — have faced opposition from across the political spectrum.
Pushback has not only been directed at climate policies and Germany’s outgoing coalition government. The public image of climate activists in Germany has made a complete U-turn — from heroes in 2019 to villains today, said Simon Schaupp, sociology professor at Berlin’s Technical University.
“The climate movement has retreated — that is an undeniable fact,” Schaupp continued, explaining this is evident both in its numbers and dramatically shrunken public approval ratings.
Support for the movement in Germany halved between 2021 and 2023, likely following controversial street blockades by climate activists, according to survey data.
Germany is exhibiting a “worrying trend” of increasing pressure on climate activists and restriction of their actions, including preventative detention and defamatory political statements used to intimidate them, according to a report published last month by a coalition of civil society groups and academic institutes. It highlights that 83% of climate activists had experienced various types of repression, including police action and assembly bans.
Building strength through surprising alliances
Over the last year the has been active in pro-democracy protests across the country. While climate will always be at the heart of their agenda, activists need to continue to engage with wider issues, Terjung said.
“There is a clear link between democracy and the state of the planet,” he explained, adding that it’s important to build direct alliances across diverse groups. “We also need actors from completely other parts of society to raise their voice.”
He points to Fridays for Future Germany having demonstrated with bus drivers and labor unions, but suggests church communities or industries such as the steel sector that want to accelerate transformation to stay competitive could also be encouraged to stand up for the climate.
“If climate activists foster alliances with trade unions and progressive corporations, a conservative-led government will have to deal with a powerful narrative,” said Simon Teune, political sociologist specializing in protest at Berlin’s Free University.
He says these alliances will highlight the social disparities in the climate crisis. “Welfare organizations have already sided with Fridays for Future. They will be an important voice in the coming social struggles connected to rising energy and housing prices.”
Improving communication is a key to success
The challenge of climate disinformation is more important than it has ever been, says Jens Clausen, senior researcher and co-founder of the German-based Borderstep Institute for Innovation and Sustainability.
Clausen, who has been involved in environmental and climate activism for five decades, is now engaged with Scientists for Future Germany, an international environmental organization founded by scientists in support of Fridays for Future.
Speaking recently to a group of German high school students he was struck they weren’t aware that almost .
“If they don’t know it, they can’t believe it,” Clausen said, adding that when it comes to new technologies, some people need to be reassured they aren’t guinea pigs.
Using the example of the heat pump capacity that has already been installed, he said “we want to try to make them feel that change is normal.”
However, Schaupp argues engaging a broader base of support will require climate activists to recognize not everyone is motivated by science.
Schaupp, who is currently researching the climate perceptions of construction workers in Germany, says the movement already knows it needs to go beyond the facts to take the lived reality and experiences of different societal groups more seriously.
Navigating an uncertain future
“The troops of the climate movement are strong, but they simply lack money, power and institutions,” said Clausen. “The arguments of the fossil side of the discussion are bad, but they have more money, they own more press, and it’s hard to fight against them.”
After decades in the movement, Clausen says being a climate activist in Germany just now feels a little bit like being a monk — working all the time for a good cause. “You do not see every Sunday many people in the church, but you have your cloister, and you have your work and you hope it helps.”
he hopes a strong civil society opposition will emerge to act as a climate watchdog and to nudge the government in the right direction.
Terjung believes that although the backlash climate activists are experiencing right now is “really painful”, it is a response to all that has been achieved.
And on a personal level, he sees no going back. In German, he says, there’s a beautiful word to capture the feeling of taking to the streets and seeing its impact. “Selbstwirksamkeit”, which translates to something like self-efficacy.
“Once you have felt that you can’t forget it… I couldn’t imagine abandoning this power.”
Edited by: Tamsin Walker
The post What’s next for Germany’s climate movement? appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
