Germany's Merz addresses critics with climate action pledge

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday sought to assuage critics who accuse his government of doing too little against climate change after a brutal summer of heatwaves and drought. 

"We have to further curb climate change and at the same time better adapt to the consequences," Merz said at the start of a two-day retreat outside Berlin with members of the cabinet.

Germany had to "draw the long-term lessons from extreme situations such as this summer of heat," he said, adding that the biggest EU economy had suffered "significant damage" over recent months.

A heatwave in late June saw Germany break its all-time temperature record three days in a row, topping 42 degrees, and official data shows that the country has registered a record of around 14,000 heat-related deaths this year.

The country has seen wildfires and serious impacts to harvests, as well as rivers falling to levels which have restricted crucial navigation routes.

Merz's centre-right CDU/CSU alliance has until now emphasised the need to "balance" climate action against efforts to revive Germany's stuttering economy.

It also faces pressure from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is leading in the polls and which denies the scientific consensus of man-made climate change.

The Greens party and environmental activists argue the government, a coalition of the CDU/CSU and the centre-left Social Democrats, is not acting with the urgency the climate crisis deserves.

Social Democrat politicians have suggested further measures to enshrine climate protection in the constitution, which has been met with a frosty reception by the CDU/CSU.

"After weeks of silence and playing the issue down, the government is finally talking about climate protection and adaptation," Greens party leader Felix Banaszak said Tuesday.

"This will only be credible if Merz and his government fundamentally change course," he told the Rheinische Post newspaper, saying particular action was needed on the green energy transition.

An expert commission in May forecast that Germany would miss its 2030 greenhouse gas emissions targets, which are anchored in law. 

A Greenpeace study this week estimated that the economic costs of the extreme summer of 2026 -- from productivity losses and health costs to poor harvests and throttled river traffic -- amount to at least 36 billion euros for Germany. 

Outside the venue of the cabinet retreat in Neuhardenberg, Brandenburg state, Greenpeace activists set up a fire engine with a large banner that read "Merz, extinguish the fire".

jsk/fz/pdw