Overview
- Environment Minister Carsten Schneider said on Wednesday he will table a proposal in the second half of 2026 to amend the Basic Law so climate adaptation and heat protection become a Gemeinschaftsaufgabe.
- The move responds to pressure from municipal bodies and social groups that want federal funding for public cooling rooms, protection in care homes and schools, data‑safe municipal registers for vulnerable people, and help with summer energy poverty.
- A constitutional amendment is required to make the topic a shared federal–state task and would need a two‑thirds majority in both the Bundestag and Bundesrat, so Schneider plans talks with state ministers and parties to build support.
- Health and economic data underpin the push: the Robert Koch Institute estimated about 9,600 heat‑related deaths in a late‑June heatwave and Schneider warned each heat day costs the German economy roughly €500 million in lost output.
- Under current law most adaptation duties fall to Länder and municipalities, so declaring a Gemeinschaftsaufgabe would permit permanent joint federal–state financing and nationwide planning such as a national heat‑action plan and river renaturation measures.