The Fridays for Future Movement and the Repoliticization of Climate Change Policy in Germany

Stability and Politicisation in Climate Governance
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pp. 19-34
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Cambridge
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Cambridge University Press
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2025

Paul Tobin, Matthew Paterson, Stacy D. VanDeveer,
Tosun, Jale, Marc Debus
ISBN: 978-1-009-35245-1 (print) , 978-1-009-35244-4 (online)
DOI: 
10.1017/9781009352444.003
Abstract

This chapter assesses the extent to which the emergence of Fridays for Future (FFF) resulted in a politicization of climate change and how this affected climate policy and politics in Germany from 2018 to 2022. We show that the politicization resulted in a situation in which the Merkel government decided to gradually phase out coal-fired power plants as the key climate policy decision of the last few years. While this step was triggered by the EU’s announcement in 2017 that it would adopt stricter emissions standards for large combustion plants burning coal and lignite, FFF increased the pressure on the government to act. The politicization of the issue also resulted in changes to climate politics. The positions of mainstream political parties and their candidates have converged in their positions on climate change and the need for climate action. However, this convergence refers to climate policy in abstract terms and not to the specific policy measures supported by the individual parties. While climate change became depoliticized for a while, geopolitical conflicts are expected to repoliticize it and to have an impact on climate politics and policy.