“We will never say it publicly, but we are on the defensive when it comes to climate protection. […] Climate protection is on its way to becoming a niche issue, even the Chancellor sees it that way.” According to the German news magazine Der Spiegel, the co-leader of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, Ricarda Lang, allegedly uttered these disturbing words during a meeting of the left wing of the Greens in the German Bundestag. During this meeting, the decisions just taken by the top politicians of the ruling parties during a special coalition committee were dissected. This special committee was convened after weeks of wrangling within the federal government over policy decisions.

Some of the decisions hit the Greens hard. The most bitter pill was the weakening of the climate protection law. A law introduced in 2019 by the Angela Merkel government with clear annual enforceable targets for emission cuts for sectors such as transport and buildings. In future, these sector targets will be calculated generally, making it easier for individual ministries to evade responsibility. A longer implementation timeframe will also reduce the pressure to act quickly.

At the press conference after the summit, the Social Democrats and Liberals used showy phrases like “paradigm shift”, “turbo for Germany”, and “biggest modernisation package of the last decades”. The Greens were far less enthusiastic, laying the ground for their own defeat.

In a ZDF news programme, the Green minister for economic affairs, Robert Habeck, reluctantly admitted that he was not proud of the decision to speed up motorway construction: “But that’s how it works if you want to move forward together.” A little later he announced on Twitter: “No more is possible in this coalition.” The day after the painful agreement, parliamentary group leader Katharina Dröge announced that the results on climate protection were not enough: “The talks must continue”.

According to several commentators, the disappointing results are a consequence of the Greens’ increasing isolation in the traffic light government. The ongoing clashes between Greens and Liberals was already recounted in the previous column. Shortly before the summit, the Greens also decided to open fire on Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Anton Hofreiter, a member of the Bundestag and chairman of the European Affairs Committee, told ZDF news: “There are many problems in the government. The chancellor is the biggest one”. After the results of the summit were announced, he too could not hide his disappointment: “ Scholz’ SPD is no longer the natural ally of the Greens,” he told Welt am Sonntag. He was interpreting the feelings of abandonment that many Greens share about Chancellor Scholz.

Both government partners of the Greens, the Social Democrats and the Liberals, repeat whenever they can the old cliché that the Greens are essentially a prohibitionist party (Verbotspartei). We have seen the attack line resurface again with the new legislation to replace broken heating systems with new ones that use 65 per cent renewable energy. This proposal, according to Habeck, was leaked prematurely in order to damage him. Whoever gets the news out first sets the tone. The other party is then left to chase. The opponents’ set the narrative as: here come the Greens again with their bans. From 2024 you will have to replace your gas boiler with a very expensive heat pump. They used the devastating phrase: “demolition orgy”.

What is clear is that the Greens have to work hard to push through climate change measures.

As crazy as it may sound, especially after the UN climate panel’s frightening synthesis report, the spirit of the times is also against the Greens. Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine forced Habeck to pull out all the stops to secure energy supplies. The Greens had to allow nuclear power stations to stay open a little longer, albeit temporarily (they closed for good on 15 April), and more coal had to be mined. When a few inspired politicians from the Grand Coalition (the government of Social Democrats and Christian Democrats led by Chancellor Angela Merkel) pushed through the climate protection law in September 2019, more than 100,000 people gathered not far from the Chancellery for a climate strike, instigated by the youth movement Fridays for Future. The Corona crisis deflated the power of this movement. Today, it is mainly the actions of the climate activists of Die Letzte Generation that are getting media coverage. Polls conducted at the end of the year show that around four-fifths of Germans disapprove of their actions.

Another disappointment was the recent failed climate referendum in Berlin, which would have seen the capital’s policies become climate neutral by 2030. Too few people turned out to vote, and among those who did, the majority was very narrow: 50.9 per cent to 48.7 per cent.

The Social Democrats often refer to the failed climate referendum in Berlin. It seems that they no longer fully believe in public support for climate protection measures. According to summit participants, Scholz repeatedly referred to the yellow vests movement, which was once founded to oppose the French government’s plans for higher fuel taxes. He allegedly also said he feared strong social resistance if people were asked to do too much, as in the Netherlands, where the BoerBurgerBeweging (a farmers protest party) has shocked the political system during the last elections.

What is clear is that the Greens have to work hard to push through climate change measures. “We are experiencing a new form of climate denial,” says a Green source in Der Spiegel. “The other parties say they are for it, but they hide behind terms like technology openness or the market principle.”

Meanwhile, the Greens are also taking hits in polls almost every week. A new survey by Deutschlandtrend shows that the Green leadership duo of Economy Minister Robert Habeck and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock are seriously losing popularity. Liberal minister and Habeck’s nemesis, Christian Lindner, is surging in the polls and threatens to overtake Habeck. On the climate front, the Greens remain overweight, but are losing ground (-15 per cent). Asked who is best at looking after the climate, 34 per cent of respondents said “I don’t know”. Only 32 per cent answered “the Greens”.

Der Spiegel is wondering aloud whether the Greens still have a role to play in this government. But what other option do they have other than to fight back? The experience of Greens and others from coalitions across Europe shows that whoever pulls the plug will drown at the next election.

This article is a part of our monthly column that keeps an eye on German Greens and their role in German government and politics. Sign up to our newsletter to get it in your inbox.