“Fridays for Future” has been around for five years. What influence did the movement have on German climate policy and what are the challenges for the future?
Five years “Fridays for Future”: Climate activist Luisa Neubauer and the deputy leader of the Union, Jens Spahn, have a very different view of the climate movement of the students. But Neubauer and Spahn practically agree on one thing – the climate protests definitely had an impact on the mood in the country.
From Neubauer’s point of view, “Fridays for Future” has succeeded in making society fully aware of the issue of climate change. “You have to imagine, for a long time before that it was a mini-problem for some from such a green eco-corner.” They took the topic out of there and placed it in the middle of society.
And CDU politician Spahn states: “‘Fridays for Future’ has undoubtedly succeeded in making the topic more present.” In that sense, it made a difference socially.
School strike for the climate
In August 2018, Greta Thunberg began her school strike for the climate in Sweden. A global movement quickly emerged from this – just a year later, in September 2019, Thunberg spoke as a 16-year-old at the UN climate summit in New York, angrily lamented the failure to protect the climate and asked “How dare you?” – How dare you?
Jens Spahn was Minister of Health in the grand coalition under Chancellor Angela Merkel at the time, and today he is responsible for climate protection as the Union parliamentary group vice president. “I still remember that I was kind of undecided with myself,” Spahn recalls today. “Whether I found it impressive or almost a bit exaggerated when Greta Thunberg met Angela Merkel and other heads of state and government for the first time and everyone made such a fuss about her.”
This gave those involved the impression that it was only then that they realized that climate protection is also important, says the CDU politician.
Student demo ”Fridays for Future”, 2019 in Berlin: climate protection has long been an issue in Germany – but the pace of implementation could be argued.
Climate protection has long been an issue in Germany
When the first “Fridays for Future” demonstrations started in Germany, the so-called coal commission was working on plans for the coal phase-out that had already been targeted. The share of renewable energies in electricity generation was around 40 percent in 2018. Climate protection has long been an issue in Germany – but the pace of implementation could be argued.
And from the point of view of the green transport politician Stefan Gelbhaar, the protests have created additional pressure. “It is of course the case that the permanent communication of the topic of climate protection has led to over 90 percent of the German population saying that more needs to be done,” Gelbhaar is convinced. And this pressure also influenced the other parties.
Neubauer: Greens cannot assert themselves
Set a topic, set the agenda. “Fridays for Future” did that, says Gelbhaar. And the Greens as a climate protection party certainly did not harm the issue.
The Greens are now in government. Together with SPD and FDP. “Fridays for Future” spokeswoman Neubauer is also a member of the Greens. She is critical of the current situation within the traffic light government: “Of course, even the Greens, with the best ecological conscience that they sometimes show, cannot assert themselves against fossil moods coming from the Chancellor and the FDP.” It doesn’t work that way. Neubauer calls on her party to draw red lines on the subject of climate protection.
Wissing complains about polemics in the debate
FDP Transport Minister Volker Wissing is always the focus of criticism. Because in the transport sector, CO2 emissions are hardly falling, and the goals of the Climate Protection Act are regularly missed there. Wissing emphasizes that the decision to switch to climate-neutral drives will take time.
“Prohibitions and constraints do not find a lasting majority in society,” says the FDP politician. Wissing complains that the debate has been polemicized: “‘Fridays for Future’ speaks of refusal to work when policies are different from those that you think are right. I can’t say: either you implement my opinion or your work is worthless .”
Success: That Climate Protection Act
Probably the greatest tangible success of “Fridays for Future” is linked to the Climate Protection Act. In 2021, Neubauer and other supporters of the group brought an action before the Federal Constitutional Court that the regulations in the then existing Climate Protection Act had to be improved.
The Karlsruhe decision is considered far-reaching. The judges found that the reduction of greenhouse gases should not be disproportionately burdened on subsequent generations.
Spahn: Activism is never allowed main drive spring be
In the meantime, “Fridays for Future” has become a little quieter. The group now only occasionally calls for large-scale demonstrations. The “climate stickers” of the “last generation” are now largely shaping the picture. And the mood has changed. Climate protection is now polarizing strongly – not least since the bitter dispute over the so-called heating law.
After five years of “Fridays for Future,” Neubauer says it’s about “radical effectiveness.” “We have to keep asking ourselves. How do we stay effective?” And there isn’t just one form of action that you can use to make faster progress, says Neubauer. “The climate protection law could only be tightened because we sued. Even the biggest road blockade would have done nothing.”
For CDU parliamentary group Vice Spahn it is clear that movements like “Fridays for Future” have to be perceived as politicians in order to understand what drives people. But: “Movement, activism must never be the main driving force for democratic politics, for representative politics,” said Spahn. Because that quickly leads to the wrong track.