The federal government passed the Climate Adaptation Act last November and it is scheduled to come into force in the middle of the year. The traffic light coalition's plans envisage binding strategies and urban development measures for the federal, state and local governments.
In the North Rhine-Westphalia state capital Düsseldorf, for example, in a few decades it will be as warm as it is today in Toulouse in southern France. “Climate adaptation is not a form of defeatism, but a necessary complement to climate protection,” says geographer Catharina Fröhling.