Climate action

Eisschollen auf einem Gletschersee in Island

Protecting nature and climate action are once again united in the Federal Environment Ministry. The new area of responsibility is in the name of the ministry: the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety or BMUKN for short. The Federal Climate Action Minister is Carsten Schneider.

Latest on Climate action

Friedenspalast in Den Haag. Das Gebäude ist Sitz des Internationalen Gerichtshofs.

Report Climate | 24.07.25

International Court of Justice: Mitigating climate change is an obligation

With regard to the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, Federal Environment Minister Carsten Schneider remarked that mitigating climate change is a universal obligation for all countries.

Betonwerk mit Baumaschinen im Vordergrund

Press Economy | 25.06.25

Climate Club strengthens cooperation for climate-neutral industry

The meeting will focus on the overall conditions for the global decarbonisation of the industrial sector as well as measures that can contribute to the development of strong lead markets for climate-friendly basic materials.

Press Climate | 25.06.25

Germany cancels over 500,000 emission allowances

Germany is, for the first time, cancelling emission allowances from the European emissions trading system in order to secure the positive climate impact of the regulated phase-out of coal power.

Press Marine Conservation | 13.06.25

International community sends signal for rules-based global marine action

With the adoption of the Nice Ocean Action Plan, the international community has committed to ambitious marine conservation and protection at the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, which ends today.

The structure and name of the ministry was changed by the organisational decree of the Federal Chancellor of 6 May 2025. National and international climate policy were moved to the Federal Environment Ministry from the Federal Economic Affairs Ministry and the Federal Foreign Office.

The Federal Environment Ministry had held lead responsibility for climate policy before, until December 2021. This included climate action at national and international level, climate partnerships and climate initiatives as well as international climate negotiations and emissions trading.

The German government’s information, documents and publications on these topics will be compiled on this website shortly. Until then, this information is still available at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Federal Foreign Office: