Climate Governance in the Federal Republic of Germany: Interaction between the EU, the federal state, and regional states to implement Germany’s emissions reduction targets

This paper provides additional insights into multi-level climate governance taking the example of Germany, which is organised as a federal parliamentary republic that consists of 16 regional states. Germany is also a member state of the European Union (EU) and a Party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and its climate policy is firmly embedded in the international and European climate policy architecture. As such, Germany’s national contribution to the achievement of the Paris Agreement forms part of the EU’s joint Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) which was submitted on behalf of all member states. At the national level, Germany has established a climate governance framework that provides for strong federal responsibilities with a smaller but still significant role played by the regional states.