As of: February 17, 2024, 2:30 p.m
By: Peter Sieben
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With the Climate Adaptation Act, Germany is preparing for floods and heat waves.
So can the consequences of climate change no longer be stopped?
Berlin - In the end, it is Darwin who shapes climate policy: Survival of the fittest - whoever is best adapted survives.
The old principle of evolution is becoming the credo in dealing with climate change.
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 goal: “We have to get back to the basic consensus that we have to protect the people in our country from the dramatic consequences of the climate crisis,” said Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) at the time.
The traffic light coalition's plans envisage binding strategies and urban development measures for the federal, state and local governments - for example against floods or heat waves.
There is hardly any talk of averting climate change anymore.
Does adapting mean giving up?
Climate change: “Even global warming of 1.5 degrees will have noticeable consequences”
No, says qualified geographer Catharina Fröhling.
She researches the topic and coordinates the “Adaptation to Climate Change” project at the Association of German Engineers (VDI).
“Climate adaptation is not a form of defeatism, but a necessary complement to climate protection,” she says.
The goal of limiting global warming is not off the table.
But: “Even global warming of 1.5 degrees will have noticeable consequences.”
Just on Thursday, the European Union's climate change service Copernicus announced that for the first time global warming averaged over 1.5 degrees over a twelve-month period compared to the pre-industrial era.
What this means in the long term can be seen from so-called climate twins.
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, researchers say.
Instead of an average of 23 degrees in August, it was 28 degrees at the end of the century.
“An analysis of climate data shows that the climates of all regions in Germany have already shifted, so that many now have a climate that prevailed 100 to 600 kilometers further in the southwest 50 years ago,” says the Federal Environment Agency.
Such local climate changes can be illustrated through spatial comparisons.
Catharina Fröhling says: “Climate adaptation is a necessary complement to climate protection.” © VDI eV
“Climate change is increasingly evident in cities too”
In Düsseldorf, the comparison data is already being used for initial measures, says geographer Catharina Fröhling: “The railway lines there have been greened and water points have been installed for citizens, which can be used during heat waves.
And the city shows this proactively during climate city tours.”
However, not all measures can be transferred to all cities, knows Leon Jänicke, professor of civil engineering at the International University (IU).
He says: “Climate change is already evident today and will increasingly so in the future in communities and cities.” For example, in the form of heavy rain events and floods.
But: “The same heavy rain event can have very different effects in two cities with different topography,” says Jänicke.
There may therefore have to be different concepts for each region.
Heavy rain and periods of drought: Sponge City can help
A method that can help both after heavy rain and in periods of drought: the so-called sponge city.
The idea: Rainwater is retained and stored locally - and released again in times of low rainfall.
For example, using huge water tanks under trees.
“This means that the longer dry periods that will increasingly occur in the future can be bridged a little better,” explains Jänicke.
However, research into this is still in its early stages.
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New rules for flood protection
Another example: extreme floods like those in 2021 in the Ahr Valley and in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Scientists assume that the probability of such extreme natural events will increase in the future as a result of climate change.
Potentially endangered cities and communities should gear their flood protection to a once-in-a-century flood, i.e. dams must, for example, be designed in such a way that they can withstand a catastrophe that currently only happens once in 100 years.
“This level of protection has already been implemented in many places, for example in the southern Allgäu on the Iller,” says Jänicke’s colleague Timo Heinisch.
The civil engineer also teaches at IU.
Wherever damage has occurred in the past 20 years, appropriate measures are now at least in the works.
But: “The need is so huge that not all projects have been realized yet.”
Geographer Catharina Fröhling believes that this may also be due to the lack of skilled workers who can implement such projects.
“The lack of young talent in technical professions is a problem.
You can say: Anyone who chooses a career in engineering can proactively participate in creating a future worth living.”
Another factor: the cost.
The federal government's so-called climate and transformation fund collapsed following a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court in November 2023.
Suddenly 60 billion euros are missing for climate protection.
There is an urgent need to invest now, says Fröhling: “According to a study, the damage caused by the consequences of climate change could cost between 280 and 900 billion euros by 2050.
If we don’t take precautions now, at some point it will no longer be possible to finance it.”