Climate-resilient Society

A key challenge for Germany and Europe is to develop an economic base that is climate-friendly, resilient and competitive at the same time – particularly in light of rapid changes in global trade, supply chains and geopolitical developments that highlight Europe’s dependence on critical technologies and raw materials. At the same time, Europe is struggling with economic stagnation, low levels of innovation and insufficient investment as a result of global competitive pressure, declining demand, high energy prices, backlogs in infrastructure modernisation and investment, lengthy approval procedures, regulatory complexity, a skilled labour shortage and deficits in digitalisation.

A fundamental shift in direction is therefore necessary – and at the same time presents an opportunity for both the economy and climate action. Growth and prosperity cannot be secured by preserving traditional business models, but only by transforming them and expanding key future industries. Decarbonisation, innovation and competitiveness are closely interlinked and must be addressed together.

This transformation requires substantial public and, above all, private investment, which to date has flowed insufficiently into transformation projects. At the same time, industrial policy must set priorities and Europe must coordinate more closely and pay strategic attention to the resilience of its own economy – particularly with regard to its material dependencies on China.

Climate action is a central pillar of the modernisation of the German and European economy.

• We promote the analysis and development of solutions to remove structural investment barriers and strengthen climate-friendly investment in Germany and Europe.
• We create spaces for dialogue to facilitate alliances between the financial sector and the real economy, civil society, politics and academia aimed at bringing about the strategies, measures and environment necessary to finance decarbonisation.
• We foster the development and boost the visibility of change makers, leadership models and innovations in corporate governance for climate-friendly economic activity.
• We support strategic exchange, joint positioning and solution development among decision-makers from politics, business, civil society and academia – particularly on issues related to critical dependencies on China and to strengthen the resilience of the European economy.

Effective climate action requires profound changes across all sectors and areas of life. As a result, more and more people are noticing its impact in their everyday lives – particularly in the areas of housing and mobility, where many feel, rightly or wrongly, that it is driving up living costs. At a time of general price increases and multiple crises, this is amplifying concerns about their own standard of living. Populist actors exploit these insecurities by portraying climate policy as unjust. In doing so, they obscure the fact that insufficient climate action disproportionately affects low-income groups. The climate crisis itself also has a social dimension: higher incomes are often associated with significantly larger carbon footprints.

For climate policy to gain societal support, the social perspective must be credibly and visibly embedded in appropriate strategies and measures. Simply compensating for costs is not sufficient. What is needed is an integrated approach that jointly addresses ecological and social objectives. It’s not only about avoiding additional burdens, it’s about deliberately shaping the positive consequences of climate action – such as improved quality of life, new jobs, better health protection and greater societal participation. A socially just climate policy is the foundation for ensuring that everyone has access to a climate-friendly and climate-resilient way of life and is willing to support the necessary changes.

Fair distribution of benefits and burdens is an established core principle of climate policy.

• We support the development of strategies that make key climate policy initiatives financially viable and socially just.
• We enable the analysis and anticipatory management of conflicts that arise during the implementation of climate policy, thereby strengthening state implementation capacity and ability to act.
• We promote strategic dialogue and alliance-building between actors in climate and social policy to develop joint solutions that anchor social justice as a core foundation of future-oriented climate policy.
• We support experimentation with and strategic learning from the practical application of socially just climate policy concepts.

A climate-resilient society is able to cope with the effects of the climate crisis, limit damage and at the same time push forward with the necessary transformation. This requires not only economically viable and socially just climate policy, but also positive societal resonance. Such resonance comes about when people trust political processes, feel themselves to be taken seriously and see that their actions make a difference. Where this interplay is lacking, feelings of powerlessness, alienation and resistance may arise.

Civil society plays a key role in this context. Its organisations foster community and self-efficacy, open up spaces for alternative visions of the future and give their members a political voice. Many are already directly affected by climate impacts and are developing concrete approaches to mitigation and adaptation. Climate has thus become a cross-cutting issue not only for traditional environmental actors. Despite financial constraints, growing societal demands and polarisation, the willingness to embed climate issues in civil society structures and self-understanding remains high – a fragile dynamic that needs to be stabilised.

The transformation will be decided at the local level in particular. This is where climate change mitigation, adaptation and damage management are directly linked to people’s everyday lives and present concrete opportunities for participation. Constructive cooperation between civil society, public administration and politics is crucial for maintaining societal support.

Young people are especially important, as they will be most affected by the consequences of today’s actions. To boost their active support, trust in the effectiveness of individual and collective action across all social milieus must be fostered.

People from all social milieus actively shape a climate-resilient future.

• We create support programmes that help civil society organisations beyond the environmental sector make climate a cross-cutting issue in their work.
• We enable organisations to understand the interactions between climate change mitigation and adaptation and to develop integrated approaches to their activities.
• We identify and strengthen societal change agents who within their structures play a key role in building a climate-resilient society.
• We support initiatives outside the formal education system that provide young people from all social backgrounds with opportunities to actively shape change.
• We create spaces for experimentation in which government, civil society and academia can test new forms of cooperation at the local level and use them for joint learning.

Climate policy challenges are multidimensional. Besides reducing emissions, it is becoming increasingly import to adapt to climate change in light of escalating climate impacts. Germany and Central Europe are warming particularly rapidly; extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, and their consequences must be managed and remedied in the short term.

While the impacts of the climate crisis on technical, infrastructural and societal systems are already being studied and adaptation strategies developed, this is not sufficiently tied in with the requirements of climate change mitigation. Experts cooperate too little, and there is a lack of understanding of how ongoing climate change in turn affects climate action. To better identify and address synergies, trade-offs and competition for resources, fragmented knowledge must be pooled and actors more closely connected.

Because emissions are not being reduced quickly enough, one measure is becoming increasingly important: in the long term, temperatures can only be stabilised if extensive decarbonisation is combined with the active removal of CO₂ from the atmosphere (carbon dioxide removal, CDR). CDR includes natural and technological methods for capturing and storing CO₂. However, these approaches are controversial, as they may weaken incentives for emissions reduction and exacerbate conflicts over land use. Technological CDR methods are currently a long way from widespread economically viable deployment. Building the necessary markets requires regulation and long-term support, which may in turn compete with other climate change mitigation technologies.

This constellation could give rise to new conflicts over attention and resources. A resilient climate policy therefore requires a holistic perspective and systematic joined-up thinking about climate change mitigation, adaptation and CDR to allow decisions to be taken that are sound in welfare economic terms.

Climate policy strategies consider the necessity and interdependencies of climate change mitigation, climate adaptation and CDR and place them in a productive relationship.

• We promote analysis and debate on the interaction between decarbonisation, climate adaptation and CDR from a welfare economic perspective.
• We help policymakers, civil society and the media better understand the potential, opportunities and risks of CDR and how it interacts with climate change mitigation and adaptation.
• We enable the development of strategies for scaling up CDR with regard to regulation, financing and implementation.
• We support decision-makers at the municipal, state and federal levels in addressing synergies and conflicts between climate change mitigation and adaptation and in deriving integrated concepts.
• We promote the development and testing of solutions to manage competition between CDR and other land uses in the context of climate change.