Germany’s Merz addresses critics with climate action pledge

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pledged to curb climate change and improve adaptation after a summer heat wave pushed temperatures above 42 degrees Celsius for three straight days and contributed to roughly 14,000 heat-related deaths, per official data. Wildfires, poor harvests, and low river levels that restricted shipping also hit the country.

Merz's CDU/CSU-led coalition has previously stressed 'balancing' climate action against economic concerns, and faces pressure both from the Greens, who want faster action including a constitutional climate protection amendment, and from the far-right AfD, which denies human-caused climate change.

A Greenpeace estimate put this summer's economic costs at at least 36 billion euros, and an expert commission has already forecast Germany will miss its legally binding 2030 emissions targets.

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